Neighborhoods of Affinity

Michael J. Smart and Nicholas J. Klein

Journal of the American Planning Association, 2013, vol. 79, issue 2, 110-124

Abstract: Problem, research strategy, and findings: Planners have traditionally focused on how the physical characteristics of neighborhoods influence people's activity and travel -patterns, overlooking an equally important factor: the social nature of neighborhoods. We focus on one kind of neighborhood characterized by strong social ties: gay and lesbian -neighborhoods of affinity. Gay men living in a neighborhood of affinity-those with a high percentage of coupled gays and lesbians-take shorter work and non-work trips. The mix of local activity sites and social connections results in some gay men conducting a substantial share of their lives within these neighborhoods and nearby. These results are independent of the design or density of the neighborhood. We do not, however, find similar results for lesbians, perhaps because they have less residential mobility. Takeaway for practice: Gay and lesbian neighborhoods of affinity represent the kinds of supportive communities where local travel is possible for many activities, behavior that planners seek with so many public policies. Planners must explore how the social and physical environments of neighborhoods interact with one another when they focus on the impacts of physical design and infrastructure on community outcomes. Research support: None.

Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/01944363.2013.883227 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rjpaxx:v:79:y:2013:i:2:p:110-124

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rjpa20

DOI: 10.1080/01944363.2013.883227

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of the American Planning Association is currently edited by Sandi Rosenbloom

More articles in Journal of the American Planning Association from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().