The Urban NeighBorhood Its Analytical and Social Contexts

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.