Spatial temporal dynamics of neighborhood quality of life : Charlotte, NC

Quality of life (QoL) is an encompassing measure of a neighborhood's condition, describing the well-being an individual may expect by residing in a particular place. Over time, some or all of these conditions will change for the better or worse, yet the driving forces behind the dynamics of neighborhood-level QoL are not well understood. The purpose of this dissertation is to gain a better comprehension of the patterns, trajectories, and explanatory factors of change across the multidimensional QoL conditions of neighborhoods. Utilizing neighborhoods in Charlotte, NC over the course of the 2000-2010 decade as a case study, this dissertation employs three complementary analytical approaches to examine spatial, multidimensional dynamics: Markov Chains, self-organizing maps, and a set of cross-lagged panel models. Results highlight the role of spatial spillovers in shaping the change process; a neighborhood's mobility in terms of QoL is not independent of its immediate surroundings. Geographically, older, inner-ring suburban neighborhoods are shown to be most vulnerable to declines across multiple QoL dimensions; middle-age housing further proves to be a significant explanatory predictor of changes in crime concentrations, relative economic status, youth social indicators, and homeownership rates, thus supporting economic filtering theories of neighborhood change. Neighborhoods characterized by the highest QoL attributes are the most stable through time. Lower-income neighborhoods are found to be heterogeneous in terms of their corresponding social problems, and a temporal, reciprocal relationship between crime and youth-related problems is revealed. Improvements to the lowest QoL neighborhoods were heightened at the peak of the housing and economic boom in the city, but following the great recession, many of these neighborhoods reverted back to their conditions earlier in the decade, illuminating the shifting dynamics before, during, and after the recent, great recession. Policy implications of results are discussed