Doctoral Dissertation Research: Population Shifts and Suburban Governance

当代美国的郊区居住着全国数量最多、增长最快的贫困人口。在21世纪的第一个十年，由于内部人口流动和移民，郊区贫困人口的增长速度是中心城市的两倍。结果之一是，全国各地的郊区社区面临着建立一个足够的社会安全网以服务于迅速多样化的人口的挑战。在这一努力中，有两个因素显得尤为重要：郊区非营利组织和慈善捐助者网络的存在，以及有助于在大都市范围内实施社会政策的区域机构联盟的加强。然而，也有一些反趋势，比如一些郊区的居民决定寻求社区合并，从而将自己与新来者分开。目前还不清楚这些动态将如何发挥作用，以及美国新郊区的特征将是什么。为了调查这些发展，西北大学的博士生Elisa Lanari在Micaela di Leonardo博士的指导下，将在美国南部的一个这样的社区进行16个月的研究。这个社区是一个历史上富裕的白人郊区的例子，它采取了分离主义政策和举措，以应对周围低收入和移民人口的增长。与此同时，社区也有一个强大的非营利部门致力于帮助低收入居民。因此，该社区构成了一个合适的地点，用于调查目前正在重塑美国郊区的许多相互作用和动态因素。研究人员将使用多种社会科学方法来收集数据，包括：在非营利组织、社区活动和组织会议上的参与观察；与当地房主、政府官员、商业领袖、非营利活动人士和低收入居民进行半结构化访谈；并分析媒体、政府和非政府来源制作的关于当地贫困、社会经济两极分化和社区组织问题的印刷和在线材料。在最后的研究阶段，她将收集档案和统计数据，以提供一个整体的背景。这项研究的结果将有助于政策制定者理解，拥有足够的郊区安全网所需的基础设施资源的社区如何以及为什么不一定会为此部署这些资源。这项研究还将有助于对美国郊区变化动态和地理的社会科学理解。

Contemporary American suburbs are home to the largest and fastest growing poor populations in the country. In the first decade of the 21st century, suburbs saw their poverty populations growing twice as fast as those of central cities because of both internal population movement and immigration. One result is that suburban communities across the country face the challenge of building an adequate social safety net to serve their rapidly diversifying populations. Two factors have emerged as particularly important in this effort: the presence of a suburban network of nonprofits and philanthropic donors, and the strengthening of regional institutional coalitions that can help implement social policies at a metropolitan scale. However, there are also counter currents, such as the decisions by residents of some suburbs to seek community incorporation and thereby separate themselves from the new arrivals. It is still unclear how these dynamics will play out and what the characteristics of the new American suburb will be. To investigate these developments, Northwestern University doctoral student Elisa Lanari, supervised by Dr. Micaela di Leonardo, will undertake 16 months of research in one such community in the American south. The community is an example of a historically white and affluent suburb that has adopted separatist policies and initiatives in response to the growth of low-income and immigrant populations around them. At the same time, the community also has a strong nonprofit sector committed to helping low-income residents. Therefore, the community constitutes an apt site for investigating the many interacting and dynamic factors that are currently remaking American suburbs. The researcher will use a mix of social science methods to gather data, including: participant observation in nonprofits and at community events and organizational meetings; semi-structured interviews with local homeowners, public officials, business leaders, nonprofit activists, and low-income residents; and analysis of printed and online material produced by media, governmental and non-governmental sources on issues of poverty, socioeconomic polarization, and community organizing in the local area. In the last research phase, she will gather archival and statistical data to provide an overall context. Findings from this research will help policy makers to understand how and why communities that have the infrastructural resources needed to build an adequate suburban safety net do not necessarily deploy them to that end. The research will also contribute to social scientific understanding of the changing dynamics and geography of American suburbs.