New study shows increase in diverse metropolitan neighborhoods

Researchers from Brown University and the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater recently published a study on metropolitan neighborhood demographics that found a growing number of diverse neighborhoods that, they postulate, are helping alter race relations in the country.  

“It is striking that while the all-white neighborhood is disappearing, its main replacement is the most diverse kind, which includes substantial shares of whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians,” Brown University Professor of Sociology John Logan, who co-authored the study with University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Wenquan Zhang, said. “Given the persistence of residential segregation and the deep divide that still separates whites from other groups, it is reassuring to see this one sign of progress.”

Titled “Global Neighborhoods: Beyond the Multiethnic Metropolis,” and published in Demography, the study found a growing number of what it calls global neighborhoods, which host large white and black populations as well as recent Asian and Hispanic immigrants.

While the numbers of all-minority neighborhoods are also increasing -- with a low likelihood of whites moving to those neighborhoods -- overall, the researchers feel that the increased level of global neighborhoods, often spurred by influxes of immigrants, are having a positive impact on the country’s racial tensions.
 
“In a period when so many Americans seem to emphasize the downside of immigration, it’s useful to see how newcomers are contributing to resolving a longstanding problem,” Logan said.