The Dynamics of Residential Segregation in Buffalo : An Agent-based Simulation

Race and class factors have been studied as underlying causes of segregation for many years. Individual choices on race and economic constraints of living in one area versus another play an important role in residential segregation. An attempt has not yet been made to simulate the interplay of neighbourhood racial and economic composition in forming segregation using empirical micro-level data. Using City of Buffalo data, this study explores how individuals’ housing location choices with respect to racial composition and housing sale prices in their neighbourhoods can give rise to aggregate patterns of residential segregation and how segregation at one point in time was contributing to increased segregation at later stages. The results show that observed patterns of segregation in the city could plausibly arise from the interaction of racial and economic factors. This study also demonstrates the application of such models on exploring the possible effects of proposed integration efforts.

[1]  Kwong Wing Chau,et al.  A Critical Review of Literature on the Hedonic Price Model , 2002 .

[2]  K. Smith,et al.  Separate but lethal: the effects of economic segregation on mortality in metropolitan America. , 1998, The Milbank quarterly.

[3]  Edward L. Glaeser,et al.  The Rise and Decline of the American Ghetto , 1997, Journal of Political Economy.

[4]  Gary Grudnitski,et al.  Golf courses and residential house prices: An empirical examination , 1995 .

[5]  E. Ostrom,et al.  Empirically Based, Agent-based models , 2006 .

[6]  T. Schelling.  Micromotives and Macrobehavior , 1978 .

[7]  David A. Gerber,et al.  The Making of an American Pluralism: Buffalo, New York 1825-60. , 1991 .

[8]  I. Benenson,et al.  Entity-Based Modeling of Urban Residential Dynamics: The Case of Yaffo, Tel Aviv , 2002 .

[9]  Camille Z. Charles,et al.  The Dynamics of Racial Residential Segregation , 2003 .

[10]  Alexander Laurie,et al.  Role of 'Vision' in Neighbourhood Racial Segregation: A Variant of the Schelling Segregation Model , 2003 .

[11]  W. Clark.  Ethnic Preferences and Ethnic Perceptions in Multi-Ethnic Settings , 2002 .

[12]  Arnold M. Rose,et al.  Negroes in Cities: Residential Segregation and Neighborhood Change. , 1966 .

[13]  M. Fossett,et al.  Overlooked Implications of Ethnic Preferences for Residential Segregation in Agent-based Models , 2005 .

[14]  N. Denton,et al.  The Dimensions of Residential Segregation , 1988 .

[15]  Michael O. Emerson,et al.  Does Race Matter in Residential Segregation? Exploring the Preferences of White Americans , 2001, American Sociological Review.

[16]  David W. S. Wong,et al.  Spatial Indices of Segregation , 1993 .

[17]  John M. Quigley,et al.  Consumer choice of dwelling, neighborhood and public services☆ , 1985 .

[18]  R. Shibley,et al.  Queen City in the 21st Century: Buffalo's Comprehensive Plan , 2006 .

[19]  Richard B. Freeman,et al.  War of the models: Which labour market institutions for the 21st century? 1 This is the text of the , 1998 .

[20]  Charles M. Tiebout.  A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures , 1956, Journal of Political Economy.

[21]  REVEALED PREFERENCES AND NEIGHBORHOOD TRANSITIONS IN A MULTI-ETHNIC SETTING , 1989 .

[22]  Gary A. Tobin.  Divided neighborhoods : changing patterns of racial segregation , 1987 .

[23]  A. Goodman.  A Comparison of Block Group and Census Tract Data in a Hedonic Housing Price Model , 1977 .

[24]  D. A. King,et al.  The Use of Census Data for Hedonic Price Estimates of Open-Space Amenities and Land Use , 2001 .

[25]  David W. S. Wong,et al.  Comparing Traditional and Spatial Segregation Measures: A Spatial Scale Perspective1 , 2004 .

[26]  W. Frey,et al.  Latino Asian and Black segregation in multi-ethnic metro areas: findings from the 1990 census. , 1993 .

[27]  L. Yin,et al.  Residential location and the biophysical environment: exurban development agents in a heterogeneous landscape , 2007 .

[28]  M. Janssen,et al.  Multi-Agent Systems for the Simulation of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change: A Review , 2003 .

[29]  W. Wilson.  The truly disadvantaged : the inner city, the underclass, and public policy , 1988 .

[30]  Maria Krysan,et al.  The residential preferences of blacks and whites: A four‐metropolis analysis , 1997 .

[31]  Mingche M. Li,et al.  Micro-Neighborhood Externalities and Hedonic Housing Prices , 1980 .

[32]  Paul A. Jargowsky,et al.  Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios, and the American City , 1998 .

[33]  Timothy J. Bartik,et al.  Measuring the Benefits of Amenity Improvements in Hedonic Price Models , 1988 .

[34]  Camille Z. Charles,et al.  Neighborhood Racial-Composition Preferences: Evidence from a Multiethnic Metropolis , 2000 .

[35]  Daniel Trudeau,et al.  The Persistence of Segregation in Buffalo, New York: Comer VS. Cisneros and Geographies of Relocation Decisions Among Low-Income Black Households , 2006 .

[36]  Thomas C. Schelling,et al.  Dynamic models of segregation , 1971 .

[37]  George Galster,et al.  Homeowners and Neighborhood Reinvestment , 1987 .

[38]  Harry W. Richardson,et al.  Determinants of Urban House Prices , 1974 .

[39]  K. Ihlanfeldt,et al.  Black Self-Segregation as a Cause of Housing Segregation: Evidence from the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality , 2002 .

[40]  D. E. Clark,et al.  The Impact of Public School Attributes on Home Sale Prices in California , 2000 .

[41]  J. Darden,et al.  Black Residential Segregation in the City and Suburbs of Detroit: Does Socioeconomic Status Matter? , 2000 .

[42]  D. Massey.  American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass , 1993 .

[43]  Junfu Zhang,et al.  Residential segregation in an all-integrationist world , 2004 .

[44]  S. Rosen.  Hedonic Prices and Implicit Markets: Product Differentiation in Pure Competition , 1974, Journal of Political Economy.

[45]  Katherine A. Kiel,et al.  House Price Differentials in U.S. Cities: Household and Neighborhood Racial Effects ☆ , 1996 .

[46]  William A. V. Clark,et al.  Residential preferences and residential choices in a multiethnic context , 1992, Demography.

[47]  William Rand,et al.  Statistical Validation of Spatial Patterns in Agent-Based Models , 2003 .

[48]  Joshua M. Epstein,et al.  Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up , 1996 .