Question

Reflect upon how an issue of scale, from the neighborhood, to particular street segments, might better inform you about spatial-behavioral relationships in a jurisdiction or region which you know well.

Answer 1

Reflect upon how an issue of scale, from the neighborhood to particular street segments, might better inform you about spatial-behavioral relationships in a jurisdiction or region which you know well.

A Spatial-behavioral relationship is the study of decisions made by individuals in relation to their spatial environment. Also known by the name of behavioral geography this branch of spatial studies has grown much in prominence amongst sociologists and psychologists to study the behavioral patterns in a certain location. With the advent of new technologies like GIS which facilitate to capture geographical identifiers and multilevel datasets behavioral geography has become an important field of study.

According to spatial theory, neighborhood environment is not limited to geographical features but also include the various tangible and intangible constituents which make up the region under study. This includes physical setup and material environment as well as social institutions, customs, ideological beliefs and social processes.

The area under study is not viewed as meager space but as a place of greater value and importance where social setup and human behavior are intertwined together to form a humanized landscape. A street segment will be considered from different perspectives not alone by its physical parameters and dimensions.

Scale of place under study may vary from local to regional; national to global. In recent times spatial scale has become a question of sociological research. There are following problems that arise while ascertaining the scale of a place under study.

• When studies are conducted in urban areas, an important question that arises is the scale of neighborhoods. E.g. whether neighborhood should constitute street segments or smaller units within them.

• Studies conducted so far shows that some behavioral patterns are best studied at larger scale while others at a smaller and finer scale.

E.g. relationship between average income and crime can be better understood when studies are undertaken on large scale.

the relationship between race/ethnicity and crime can be better understood when studies are undertaken on a finer scale.

• Neighborhood is an amorphous concept with no clear definition and this poses a problem while considering the scale. As the meaning of neighborhood changes with perspective, so the scale of changing neighborhood.
• The boundaries are not fixed- political boundary may be different from a social boundary. With more of fluid transportation and phenomena migration, importance of boundaries is also reducing. All this has a direct impact on the scale of a place under study.

Though it is evident that scale of a place has an important role to play in behavioral studies of a particular place but there is no specific measure as to what constitutes a neighborhood. Topic of study determines the scale to a larger extent.

Therefore it can be conjectured that what to study determines the spatial scale. Also, nothing concrete can be said about linkages of processes across spatial scale as it is still the question under the research.