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With the energy transition and CO2 emissions reduction as a priority on the international policy agenda, governments worldwide are trying to engage the population in investing in renewable energies. In this paper, we study the role of information access and peer effects in the photovoltaics sector in the case of the Swiss canton of Vaud. Based on a representative survey of the population of two districts, Nyon and Jura-Nord Vaudois, we show that being a homeowner and knowing someone who has installed PV cells in your social group significantly increase the probability of putting up PV cells. A direct neighbourhood effect was found, meaning that if a neighbour has installed a PV cell, the probability of the inhabitants in the two case study regions installing one themselves increases significantly. Our results show that spatial proximity is an important factor in the transmission of information between peers. Besides pure geographical distance, additional aspects such as administrative boundaries, shared language or degree of urbanisation play a role in the way the information network is presented. These insights indicate that professional experts and neighbours are important points of reference in the decision to invest in PV, and that regional networks are key for the active spreading of information on renewable technologies. Thus, we recommend using these connections to actively promote PV.

Objectives and Approach The CanNECD SES Index is a composite of 10 Canadian Census and Income Tax Filer variables, aggregated to 2,038 custom neighbourhoods covering all of Canada. The baseline 2006 Index accounted for 32% of the neighbourhood-level variance in overall developmental vulnerability in Kindergarten children, as measured by the Early Development Instrument (EDI). Other existing SES indices accounted for 17% at most. The Index now has two additional time points (2011 and 2016), which allows an evaluation of its consistency over time. Our objective is to assess three aspects of the Index’s temporal consistency. The first is the consistency of the strength of association between the Index and vulnerability rates across EDI developmental domains. The second is the consistency of neighbourhoods’ quintile rank over time. Finally, we use Confirmatory Factor Analysis in an SEM framework to assess the Index’s measurement invariance over time. Results For each EDI domain, the strength of association between Index scores and neighbourhood-level vulnerability rates were either maintained or minimally declined over time. Additionally, neighbourhood quintile rankings were highly consistent over time with over 60% of neighbourhoods in the same quintile between 2006 and 2016, and fewer than 3% with a greater than one-quintile change. Finally, our preliminary measurement invariance results show at least configural invariance over the three time points. Conclusion / implications Our results confirm the stability of the CanNECD Index, justifying its utility for: mapping SES indicators across neighbourhoods and over time, contextualizing neighbourhood-level developmental vulnerability in young children, and identifying interesting neighbourhoods for future study, especially those where the children are faring much better than predicted by the Index.

Abstract Background Neighbourhood has risen as a relevant determinant of health. While there is substantial evidence that environmental factors affect health, far less evidence of the role of social mechanisms in the causal chain between neighbourhood characteristics and health is available. Method To evaluate the role of social cohesion as a mediator between four different neighbourhood characteristics and health using data from German Socio-Economic-Panel (SOEP), a longitudinal mediation analysis was performed. Multilevel linear regression models adjusted for socio-economic variables involved three time points and two measures of physical and mental health (physical and mental component scores (PCS and MCS) of the SF12 Questionnaire. Participants were followed-up for 4 and 10 year starting in 2004. Results A total of 15,518 measures of MCS and PCS on 10,013 participants living in 4985 households were included. After adjusting for values of MCS and PCS at baseline and demographic/socio-economic variables, social cohesion was a significant positive predictor of both MCS and PCS (β-coefficient MCS: 1.57 (0.27); PCS: 1.50 (0.24)). Interaction between social cohesion and follow-up were significant for PCS. The effect of environmental and built characteristics on health was consistently mediated by social cohesion with proportion varying between 10 and 23%. Discussion We show that social cohesion is part of the causal chain between environmental and built characteristics of a neighbourhood and health, with increasing mediation effect over time for physical health. Social mechanisms should be considered when studying the effect of neighbourhood characteristics on health inequalities making social cohesion as a legitimate target of public health interventions at neighbourhood level.

Um Lebenschancen räumlich differenziert zu erfassen, stellt unser Beitrag in Anknüpfung an die Quartierseffekteforschung und den „capability approach“ einen Ansatz vor, der Lebenschancen als räumlich strukturierte Möglichkeiten und Wahlfreiheiten bei der Erfüllung von Bedürfnissen konzipiert. Individuelle Ressourcen entscheiden darüber, welche Möglichkeitsräume der Bedürfnisbefriedigung erschlossen werden können. Dies ist abhängig von der Lebenslage und verändert sich im Lebensverlauf, womit sich auch die Rolle des Quartiers für die Lebenschancen ändert. Anstatt von „benachteiligenden Quartieren“ zu sprechen, fokussieren wir auf benachteiligende Lebenslagen im Quartier.

Die neue Migrationsvielfalt und zunehmende Diversifizierung unserer Gesellschaft verändert urbane Räume. In den von Migration besonders geprägten Ankunftsräumen konzentrieren sich auch in erhöhtem Ausmaß von Armut betroffene Haushalte mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund. Dieser Quartierstypus, häufig als „Migrantenviertel" oder „ethnische Kolonie" bezeichnet, steht schon seit langer Zeit im Fokus geographischer und soziologischer Stadtforschung. Eng verknüpft mit diesen Quartieren ist die Diskussion potenziell benachteiligender Kontexteffekte. Ausgangspunkt des hier vorliegenden Beitrags ist die Beobachtung, dass Forschungen zu Kontexteffekten zumeist stark defizitorientiert sind. Es werden noch unzureichend jene Faktoren und Mechanismen in den Blick gerückt, welche die Zugänge von Migranten zu gesellschaftlichen Ressourcen beeinflussen. Der Beitrag sichtet empirische und theoretische Forschungsbeiträge und stellt dabei drei aktuelle Dynamiken, die die Ressourcenzugänge der in Ankunftsräumen Lebenden beeinflussen, in den Mittelpunkt. Dies sind die zunehmend multilokalen Bezüge Zugewanderter, die besondere Konzentration von migrantischen Gelegenheitsstrukturen in bestimmten Teilräumen unserer Städte sowie Governance-Prozesse in Reaktion auf zunehmende Diversität und sich stetig verändernde Bedarfe. Der Artikel möchte dazu beitragen, die bislang stark an Quartiersgrenzen ausgerichtete Integrationsforschung weiter zu öffnen und plädiert für eine gezieltere Betrachtung der Alltagspraktiken Zugewanderter. Die Charakteristika und Dynamiken von Ankunftsräumen illustrieren die zunehmende Durchlässigkeit räumlicher und sozialer Strukturen und damit auch die Bedeutung, Integration über den Quartierskontext hinaus zu denken.

The many new forms of migration and the increasing diversification of our societies are leaving their mark on urban spaces. In the arrival spaces featuring high levels of migrants, we tend also to find higher levels of poverty, irrespective of whether the households concerned have a migration background or not. Such neighbourhoods, often referred to in Germany as "migrant neighbourhoods" or "ethnic colonies", have long been a focus of geographic and sociological urban research. Closely connected with such neighbourhoods is the discussion over context effects and their potential to create disadvantage. The starting point for this paper is the observation that most research into such context effects highlights deficits, without taking sufficient account of those factors and mechanisms influencing migrants' access to societal resources. The article thus takes a look at available empirical and theoretical research, highlighting three current aspects influencing such access in arrival spaces: the increasingly multi-local contacts of these migrants, the specific concentration of migrant-related opportunity structures in certain sub-districts of our cities, and governance processes reacting to increasing diversity and constantly changing needs. Currently predominantly focused on ring-fenced neighbourhoods, the article aims to further integration research, calling for greater priority to be attached to looking at the day-to-day lives and practices of migrants. The characteristics and dynamics of arrival spaces illustrate the growing permeability of spatial and social structures, highlighting the need to think out of the neighbourhood box when discussing integration.

In order to capture individual life chances and their spatial relations, the paper expands the neighbourhood effects research by referring to the capability approach. We conceptualise life chances as the opportunities and freedom to fulfil human needs, which is determined by individual resources. The opportunities and freedoms depend on the life circumstances and underly profound changes during life course, with corresponding changes of the neighbourhoods’ significance for life chances. Instead of “disadvantaged neighbourhoods” we focus on disadvantaged life circumstances in neighbourhoods.

Rice farmers’ attitudes toward risk-taking have been identified as one of the factors affecting investment decisions and wealth accumulation. While existing studies have identified the socio-economic factors driving farmers’ risk attitudes, spatial variables that may correlate with decisions are often ignored in the risk models due to difficulties in measurement. We studied unobserved spatial heterogeneity in farmer’s risk preferences by incorporating spatial dependency into a farmer’s risk preference model. We used data from a survey conducted with Nigerian farmers between March and May 2016. The survey collected information on 2016 farmers’ socio-demographic characteristics and farm attributes including its geographical location as well as information on the quality of roads. In addition, a set of experiments design to elicit famers’ attitudes toward risk were conducted. We estimated a spatial autoregressive model using the instrumental variable method. We found that unobserved spatial heterogeneity (e.g., soil, topographic farmers emulating each other) was present in farmer’s risk preferences along with socio-demographic variables such as age, gender, marital status, and religion and farm characteristics such as farm size and road quality. These results are relevant for policy decision-making processes.

The paper applies to the problem of child poverty and social deprivation that scholars consider an obstacle for present and future development of society, as it is expressed in the concept of the social investment state. In the article, we discuss the issue in the context of neighbourhood effects approach since growing up in neglected communities is a risk factor for poverty perpetuation in the course of life and across generations. Because the small urban area statistics is unavailable in Poland, we provide results of sociological case study carried out in urban neglected neighbourhoods in Łódź. It enables to present the problem of child poverty through the lens of those affected by disadvantage. The broader context for the discussed problem offer results of analysis based on public statistics concerning dynamics of child poverty and social deprivation in Poland, as compared with other EU member states. Applying interdisciplinary approach, the article aims at getting better understanding of the phenomenon of poverty and social deprivation among children in Poland and its dynamics. We argue that temporal patterns of child poverty and social deprivation may be different in mainstream society approached in research based on representative samples and in poor population living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Therefore, we conclude that despite significant decrease in poverty and social deprivation among children, as documented by public statics, Poland is still a country where child poverty is a serious problem and where the grownups located at the bottom of social ladder are “children left behind”.

Dutch policymakers perceive high shares of ethnic minorities in neighbourhoods as a problem; it might generate fewer opportunities for minorities to have contact with the native Dutch population and thereby hinder integration. The question, however, is whether the ethnic composition of neighbourhoods influences interethnic contact. In this paper the focus is on leisure contact of people from ethnic minorities aged 15 to 65 with native Dutch people. Binary logistic multilevel analysis shows that contact with native Dutch people is mainly explained by individual characteristics. In addition, living in one of the four largest cities, cities with high shares of minorities on city level, leads to less contact with native Dutch people. The ethnic composition of the neighbourhood has no effect on contact, therefore segregation on neighbourhood level does not necessarily hinder integration.

There are differences between human groups in social behaviours and the attitudes that underlie them, such as trust. However, the psychological mechanisms that produce and reproduce this variation are not well understood. In particular, it is not clear whether assimilation to the social culture of a group requires lengthy socialization within that group, or can be more rapidly and reversibly evoked by exposure to the group’s environment and the behaviour of its members. Here, we report the results of a two-part study in two neighbourhoods of a British city, one economically deprived with relatively high crime, and the other affluent and lower in crime. In the first part of the study, we surveyed residents and found that the residents of the deprived neighbourhood had lower levels of social trust and higher levels of paranoia than the residents of the affluent neighbourhood. In the second part, we experimentally transported student volunteers who resided in neither neighbourhood to one or the other, and had them walk around delivering questionnaires to houses. We surveyed their trust and paranoia, and found significant differences according to which neighbourhood they had been sent to. The differences in the visitors mirrored the differences seen in the residents, with visitors to the deprived neighbourhood reporting lower social trust and higher paranoia than visitors to the affluent one. The magnitudes of the neighbourhood differences in the visitors, who only spent up to 45 min in the locations, were nearly as great as the magnitudes of those amongst the residents. We discuss the relevance of our findings to differential psychology, neighbourhood effects on social outcomes, and models of cultural evolution.

Abstract Background When measuring neighbourhood effects on health, it is both incorrect to treat individuals as if they were static and tied to their residential neighbourhood and to consider neighbourhoods rigid places whose geographical scales can be delineated a priori. We propose here to investigate the effects of residential medical density on health-seeking behaviours, taking into account the mono/polycentric structure of individual activity space (i.e., the space within which people move in the course of their daily activities) and exploring various neighbourhood units based on administrative delineations and regular grids. Methods We used data collected in the SIRS cohort study, which was carried out over a 5-year period (2005–2010) among a representative population living in 50 census blocks in the Paris metropolitan area. In the 662 women who lived in the same census blocks during the follow-up period and who had reported a recent cervical screening at baseline, we studied the association between residential medical density and individual activity space and the incidence of delayed cervical screening (> 3 years) in multilevel logistic regression models after adjustment for potential confounders. Results Among the 662 women studied, there were 94 instances of delayed cervical screening in 2010 (14%). The women who indicated that their activity space was concentrated within their neighbourhood of residence were significantly more at risk for an incident delayed cervical screening. No significant association was found between residential medical density and the incidence of delayed cervical screening. However, we observed a significant interaction between individual activity space and residential medical density. Indeed, women living in neighbourhoods with a low medical density had a significantly higher risk of delayed screening, but only if they reported that their daily activities were centred within their neighbourhood of residence. Lastly, a sensitivity analysis exploring various neighbourhood spatial units revealed that the incidence of delayed screening was better modelled when residential medical densities were calculated from a 1400 × 1400 metre grid or from adjacent census blocks. Conclusion This analysis underscores the view that people and neighbourhoods should be considered interacting entities. Using unsuitable neighbourhood units or neglecting the mono/polycentric structure of activity space would result in downplaying the importance of access to local health resources when addressing inequalities in health-seeking behaviours.

Abstract Background Inconsistencies in research findings on the impact of the built environment on walking across the life course may be methodologically driven. Commonly used methods to define ‘neighbourhood’, from which built environment variables are measured, may not accurately represent the spatial extent to which the behaviour in question occurs. This paper aims to provide new methods for spatially defining ‘neighbourhood’ based on how people use their surrounding environment. Results Informed by Global Positioning Systems (GPS) tracking data, several alternative neighbourhood delineation techniques were examined (i.e., variable width, convex hull and standard deviation buffers). Compared with traditionally used buffers (i.e., circular and polygon network), differences were found in built environment characteristics within the newly created ‘neighbourhoods’. Model fit statistics indicated that exposure measures derived from alternative buffering techniques provided a better fit when examining the relationship between land-use and walking for transport or leisure. Conclusions This research identifies how changes in the spatial extent from which built environment measures are derived may influence walking behaviour. Buffer size and orientation influences the relationship between built environment measures and walking for leisure in older adults. The use of GPS data proved suitable for re-examining operational definitions of neighbourhood.