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I advance six propositions regarding the features of urban decline processes that distinguish them from those in growing cities. First, they are demographically selective, as population losses are disproportionately comprised of more advantaged households. Second, they are dynamically nonlinear, as population changes exceed thresholds where socially problematic behaviors and residential disinvestment jump sharply. Third, they are asymmetrically scalable for technological, financial, physical, and political reasons. Fourth, they are minimally controlled by traditional land-use policies of zoning and building permits. Fifth, they are informally decentralized, as individuals and groups supplement the atrophied local public sector with "do it yourself" activities. Sixth, they are psychologically conservative, as residents try to conserve threatened physical, social, and psychological resources. The article synthesizes extant theory and evidence from multiple disciplines, although ultimately the propositions are advanced as working hypotheses commanding varying degrees of support, which collectively comprise a research agenda for further investigation.

Where people grow up can be very important to their educational and other life outcomes. Using evidence from a public housing program in Denver, Colorado, George Galster finds that low-income Latino and African American children who lived for sustained periods in better off neighborhoods were less likely to drop out of secondary school or to repeat a grade. With this in mind, he argues that in order to increase the educational outcomes of low-income minority groups, public housing program planners should locate more subsidized dwellings in neighborhoods with greater advantage.

Ein wichtiges Arbeitsgebiet in der Erforschung von Kontexteffekten ist es, nichtlineare Effekte und Schwellenwerte zu untersuchen. Es gibt umfangreiche theoretische Begründungen dafür, dass verschiedene endogene soziale Prozesse nichtlineare Beziehungen zwischen der Sozialstruktur einer Nachbarschaft und einer Vielzahl von Ergebnissen für die Bewohner bewirken. Zudem gibt es eine wachsende Zahl internationaler Studien, die beide Effekte belegen, obgleich die Befunde widersprüchlich sind, insbesondere der europäischen Forschung. Daher ist die weitere empirische Erforschung dieses Sachverhaltes entscheidend. Denn wenn wir in der Lage sind, die nichtlinearen Effekte und Schwellenwerte präziser zu bestimmen, erhalten wir eine notwendige soziale Rechtfertigung sowie praktische Hilfen für politische Maßnahmen, die dazu dienen, die soziale Mischung in Nachbarschaften zu erhöhen.

Data from fair housing audits conducted in Cincinnati (1983-85) and Memphis (1985-87) are analyzed to discern whether and how racial steering occurs. The six real estate firms analyzed here engaged in some sort of steering during at least one-half of the audited transactions, on average. This steering did not limit the number of alternative areas shown to black auditors, nor their geographic concentration. Rarely were black auditors not shown dwellings in predominantly white areas, especially if they requested such. But of all the homes they saw, black auditors were shown significantly smaller fractions in predominantly white areas, and significantly larger fractions in mixed and predominantly black areas. These racial patterns persisted regardless of the geographic definition of area chosen: census block, census tract, school district, or community. In addition, blocks adjacent to the homes shown black auditors had higher percentages of black residents, on average, than those shown to white auditors. White auditors rarely were shown houses in racially mixed areas unless they requested them. Even then, after the requested home was shown the bulk of subsequent showings were located in predominantly white areas. This pattern of showings was buttressed by numerous favorable comments by agents about such predominantly white areas and school districts … comments that were rarely given to black auditors. The evidence was fully consistent with only one hypothesis about why real estate agents steer. They steer so as to perpetuate two segregated housing markets buffered by a zone of racially transitional neighborhoods, thereby maximizing housing turnover and agents' commissions.

A secondary analysis of thirty-six fair housing audits conducted between 1974 and 1987 reveals that racial steering has been a widespread, consequential phenomenon in many urban housing markets during the last decade. It is difficult from extant work to assess precisely its incidence nationally in the home sales sector because sites reporting such data have had atypically active fair housing enforcement efforts. It appears, however, that selective commentary by agents has been practiced as much if not more than differential patterns of home-showings. The consequence of this steering rarely has been to limit the number or concentration of geographic alternatives available to black auditors. Nor have all their options in predominantly white communities typically been precluded. Rather, steering in the sales sector most often has constituted a failure to show white auditors options in areas (and school districts) with nontrivial proportions of minority residents, and a propensity to show black auditors disproportionate numbers of homes in areas currently possessing or expected to possess significant proportions of minority residents. Limited evidence suggests that steering has occurred often in the rental apartment sector, although its consequences have yet to be ascertained in a systematic fashion. Implications of the findings for racial stability in neighborhoods and for fair housing policy are discussed.