The Salience of Neighborhood. Some Lessons from Sociology

My intent has been to show that long before we adopted multilevel modeling software from their initial applications in the neatly nested world of education (pupils within classrooms within schools), sociological studies had revealed the complexity of cities, how people used cities to meet their daily needs, and thus raised questions about the salience of local neighborhoods. Given the abundant evidence that people jump spatial scales and move across multiple, non-nested hierarchies in their daily activities, the time is ripe for the integration of theoretical and conceptual models of neighborhood from across the social sciences. With revised conceptual models we will be better able to take advantage of the new spatial data on people and places and emerging GIS-related technologies of the 21^st century.