Doctoral Dissertation Research: Population Shifts and Suburban Governance

当代美国郊区是美国最大、增长最快的贫困人口的家园。在21世纪的头十年，由于内部人口流动和移民，郊区的贫困人口增长速度是中心城市的两倍。一个结果是，全国各地的郊区社区面临着建立适当的社会安全网以服务于其迅速多样化的人口的挑战。有两个因素在这项努力中显得尤为重要：一个是由非营利组织和慈善捐赠者组成的郊区网络的存在，另一个是加强区域机构联盟，以帮助在大都市范围内实施社会政策。然而，也有一些相反的趋势，例如一些郊区的居民决定寻求社区合并，从而使他们自己与新来的人分开。目前还不清楚这些动态将如何发展，以及美国新郊区的特点将是什么。为了调查这些进展，西北大学博士生伊莱莎·拉纳里在米凯拉·迪·莱昂纳多博士的指导下，将在美国南部的一个这样的社区进行为期16个月的研究。这个社区是一个历史上白人和富裕郊区的例子，它采取了分离主义政策和倡议，以应对周围低收入和移民人口的增长。与此同时，该社区还拥有一个强大的非营利部门，致力于帮助低收入居民。因此，这个社区构成了一个合适的场所，用来研究目前正在重塑美国郊区的许多相互作用和动态的因素。研究人员将混合使用社会科学方法来收集数据，包括：在非营利组织以及社区活动和组织会议上的参与者观察；对当地房主、政府官员、商业领袖、非营利活动人士和低收入居民的半结构化访谈；以及对媒体、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进行分析。在最后的研究阶段，她将收集档案和统计数据，以提供总体背景。这项研究的结果将有助于政策制定者了解拥有建立适当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为此目的部署这些资源。这项研究还将有助于社会科学理解美国郊区不断变化的动态和地理。

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.