The Urban NeighBorhood Its Analytical and Social Contexts

Abstract

This introductory paper summarizes three analytical approaches to the study of neighbor hoods : (1) typologies, (2) stages of change, and (3) functions-which include economic, administrative, political, and social. A central characteristic of urban neighborhoods is seen to be their embeddedness in city, metropolitan, and national contexts. This, in turn, is hypothesized as leading to a newly emergent organization of neighborhoods into a "hierarchy of community." A central persisting dilemma for neighborhoods is seen to be that between diffuse "sentiments of place" and the more formal "organization of interests." The urban neighborhood is a unique locus of the convergence and clash of these elements.