SPATIAL DIMENSIONS OF URBAN SOCIAL TRAVEL

ABSTRACT

Two basic hypotheses are tested in this paper. First, the frequency of social trips will decline with increasing travel distance between the interacting participants. Secondly, an individual of a given socioeconomic status will be more likely to choose as a social contact someone of similar status, his frequency declining with progressively dissimilar status levels. Although the findings at the census tract level were less clear-cut than expected, they tended to confirm the hypotheses. Conclusions based on detailed neighborhood surveys strongly point up a distance decay in social travel and an interaction of individuals by socioeconomic status. Based on friendship origins, the neighborhood data show both a distance and a social network component. Factor analysis of the social ties matrix suggests the effects of distance bias and residential status on social interaction in the city.

Key Words:

• Distance decay
• Social trips
• Socioeconomic status
• Urban social structure