Census-Based Variables Are Informative about Subjective Neighborhood Relations, but Only When Adjusted for Residents’ Neighborhood Conceptions

Rul von Stülpnagel, Franziska Findler and Daniel Brand
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Rul von Stülpnagel: Center for Cognitive Science, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
Franziska Findler: Center for Cognitive Science, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
Daniel Brand: Professur Prädiktive Verhaltensanalyse, TU Chemnitz, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: Subjective neighborhood perceptions (such as attachment or satisfaction) have been linked to demographic factors and self-reported living conditions. There has been less success to include census-based variables. One explanation is the frequent a priori application of rigid neighborhood definitions. We assessed subjective neighborhood relations, demographic information, and self-defined neighborhoods via a postcard-based, participatory GIS approach. We linked several census-based variables (e.g., the proportion of seniors or the average members per household) to four different neighborhood definitions. We found that census-based variables allowed no prediction of neighborhood relations when adjusted to statistical districts, and a limited prediction when adjusted to two different-sized buffers. We found the best prediction of neighborhood relations through census-based variables when they were adjusted to self-defined neighborhoods. Larger households, fewer households per building, and a higher proportion of seniors benefited neighborhood relations. Our findings underline the importance of adjusting the definition of ‘neighborhood’ to that of the residents when studying neighborhood attachment or sense of community.

Keywords: neighborhood attachment; self-defined neighborhoods; buffer-based neighborhoods; statistical tracts; census data; participatory GIS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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