The Spatial Structure and Local Experience of Residential Segregation

Spatial Demography 9:277-307 (2021)     [ DOWNLOAD ]
with Elizabeth Korver-Glenn
The results reveal that physical barriers are associated with heightened levels of ethnoracial segregation, and residents experience the barriers as symbolic markers of perceived distinctions between groups and physical impediments to social connection. Although barriers like highways, railroad tracks, and bayous are not inherently harbingers of ethnoracial segregation, our study demonstrates that physical barriers can provide the infrastructure for social boundaries and facilitate durable neighborhood racial divisions.

The Spatial Proximity and Connectivity Method for Measuring and Analyzing Residential Segregation

Sociological Methodology 48(1): 182-224 (2018)     [ DOWNLOAD ]
The SPC method contributes to scholarship on residential segregation by capturing the effect of an important yet understudied mechanism of segregation—the connectivity, or physical barriers, between locations—on the level and spatial pattern of segregation, and enables further consideration of the role of the built environment in segregation processes.

Constructing Segregation: Examining Social and Spatial Division in Road Networks

Working Paper
with Yu Zhu, Santiago Segarra, and Jaleh Jalili
In this paper, we introduce a novel method that constructs counterfactual road networks by identifying missing road segments that we would expect to exist in a city’s road network, given the surrounding infrastructure. We find that unexpected disconnectivity in a city’s road network is associated with greater differences in the racial composition of nearby areas and higher levels of segregation at the local and city level. Our findings suggest that road networks warrant more attention as a factor that may contribute to the persistence of segregation.

The Divergence Index: A Decomposable Measure of Segregation and Inequality

Working Paper      [ DOWNLOAD ]
In this paper, I highlight the conceptual, mathematical, and empirical distinctions between segregation and diversity and introduce the Divergence Index as a decomposable measure of segregation. Scholars have turned to the Information Theory Index as the best alternative to the Dissimilarity Index in decomposition studies, however it measures diversity rather than segregation. I demonstrate the importance of preserving this conceptual distinction with a decomposition analysis of segregation and diversity in U.S. metropolitan areas from 1990 to 2010, which shows that the Information Theory Index has tended to decrease, particularly within cities, while the Divergence Index has tended to increase, particularly within suburbs.

Barriers to Integration: Physical Boundaries and the Spatial Structure of Residential Segregation

Working Paper      [ DOWNLOAD ]
with Jackelyn Hwang
We find that physical barriers, such as highways, railroad tracks, and dead-end streets, divide urban space in ways that reinforce or exacerbate segregation, but there is substantial variation in the extent to which they increase segregation both within and across these cities and for different ethnoracial groups. By uncovering a new source of variation in the segregation experienced by city residents, the findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms that contribute to the persistence of segregation and the consequences of segregation.

The Boundaries of Spatial Inequality: Three Essays on the Measurement and Analysis of Residential Segregation

Ph.D. Thesis, Yale University (May 2015)
My dissertation introduces new methodological approaches for studying the spatial context of residential segregation.  It bridges qualitative insight on the local experience of unequal social environments and how we measure segregation for city populations. An emphasis on spatial boundaries and local context reframes our understanding of segregated environments, and offers deeper insight into even the most studied U.S. cities.
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Closer to Guns: the Role of Street Gangs in Facilitating Access to Illegal Firearms

Journal of Urban Health 95(3): 372–382 (2018)      [ DOWNLOAD ]
with Anthony A. Braga and Andrew V. Papachristos
This study conducts a network analysis of a co-offending network for the City of Chicago to determine how close any offender may be to a firearm. Findings reveal that gang membership reduces the potential network distance (how close someone is) to known firearms by 20% or more, and regression results indicate that the closer gang members are to guns, the greater their risk of gunshot victimization.

Tragic, but Not Random: The Social Contagion of Nonfatal Gunshot Injuries

Social Science & Medicine 125: 139–150 (2015)     [ DOWNLOAD ]
with Andrew V. Papachristos and Christopher Wildeman
This study investigates the concentration of nonfatal gunshot injuries within risky social networks.  Findings imply that the risk of gunshot victimization is more concentrated than previously thought, being concentrated in small and identifiable networks of individuals engaging in risky behavior, in this case criminal activity.

URBAN POLICY

Structured Encounters and Immigrant Experiences of Integration in Sweden

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2023)     [ DOWNLOAD ]
with Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, Alisa Rogers, and Sarah Valdez
In this paper, we investigate immigrants’ perceptions of the integration process, centering their perceptions of organizations and the built environment. We find that immigrants who participated in formal structured encounters were able to access language and cultural learning as well as opportunities for social connections. We also find that those who participated and did not participate in formal structured encounters perceived and experienced the integration process similarly: as never-ending and burdensome, with processual challenges and discrimination functioning as formidable hurdles. We conclude the paper by discussing the implications of our findings for future research and immigration policy.

Residential Segregation in the Twenty-First Century and the Role of Housing Policy

In How Public Policy Impacts Racial Inequality, edited by Josh Grimm and Jaime Loke. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. (2019)
with Jackelyn Hwang and Jacob Rugh
This study examines contemporary trends in segregation using new measures and methods to show that segregation has changed form but still persists in the twenty-first century. We find that poor minorities and affluent whites are highly isolated and became increasingly segregated from nonpoor and nonaffluent residents, respectively, from 2000 to 2010 in both central cities and the suburbs, and we discuss the implications of these findings for housing policy.

Commuting to Opportunity: The Working Poor and Commuting in the United States

The Brookings Institution (2008)     [ DOWNLOAD ]
This study examines workers’ commuting costs and travel modes, the trade-offs between transportation and housing costs, and how such characteristics vary across metropolitan areas. I find that the working poor spend a much higher portion of their income on commuting than other workers, despite using less expensive commuting modes at a greater frequency. Access to affordable commuting options provides a key link to economic mobility for the working poor.