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The article is a case study of population growth and composition in the Southern California-Baja California trans-border urban system (TBS). The central question guiding the research is how the combination of geographic proximity and economic integration in two very different regions affects population characteristics in the Southern California-Baja California TBS. We begin by briefly defining trans-border urban systems. We then specify the attributes of the Southern California-Baja California TBS, contrasting them with attributes observed elsewhere in the United States and Mexico. We particularly emphasize the impact of the Mexican-origin population on population growth, composition, age structure and trans-border mobility. We conclude by outlining several national and international policy implications that can be derived from a regional focus on the Southern California-Baja California TBS. The units of analysis are the aggregate TBS and the component counties and municipios. The data are drawn primarily from the U.S. and Mexican censuses. Secondary data from a variety of sources also are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the reality and the perception of environmental hazards. It is based on previous research and summarizes briefly the "reality" of the five environmental hazards as they pertain to the spatial organization of urban neighborhoods in the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. Here the focus is on the manner in which "natural" and man-made conditions of the urban setting have channeled environmental hazards into different subregions of the metropolis and the role of the hazards as possible intervening variables in the differentiation of urban subareas. The body of the discussion deals with the conjunction of presence of hazards in the neighborhood and hazard perception. Emphasis is given to the manner in which hazard perception is jointly determined by the presence of the hazard, indicated by recorded level, and the social-demographic characteristics of respondents. The article concludes with a consideration of hypotheses and research leads pertaining to the interrelations between the hazards and population composition and behavior.

Redistribution relative to metropolitan growth of Negro, other non- white and Spanish name populations is examined in Los Angeles County from 1940 to 1960 for a comparable grid of subareas. The subareas are defined relative to their maturity at different time points in order to partially control for population redistribution effects of neighborhood life histories, the spread of older subareas, and the persistence of neighborhood patterns. Shifts in ethnic concentration are shown for both older and newer subareas. Concurrent changes in neighborhood social structures and ethnic populations are described. Findings are categorized under three themes: First, ethnic population increments and redistribution were generally restricted to expanding older subareas. Ethnic populations did not spatially expand at a rate equal to the spread of the metropolis or of older subareas. Second, segregation is greater in both older and newer neighbor- hoods for Negroes than for other ethnic populations. Negroes experienced the largest proportional increments in both older and newer subareas, as well as the greatest stability in subarea occupancy. Finally, the spatial separation of ethnic populations impedes assimilation in that unique pat- terns of neighborhood structure come to characterize different ethnic populations, and changes in ethnic composition are reflected in changes in neighborhood social structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principal objective of this article is to determine the stability, comparability and reliability of a series of generalizations concerning the ecological structure of the American city which were derived from an analysis of 1940 census data. The present study conducted by the authors as of August 1958 is largely a replication of the earlier one, but is based on entirely new data from 1950 census reports. In the original study twenty American cities with populations between 200,000 and 500,000 were selected for analysis. The selection of these cities was based mainly on criteria of comparability such as size of total population, territorial size, number and average size of census tracts, and on representativeness of these cities with respect to economic type, geographical distribution, site, population composition, and rate of population growth. Two smaller cities Berkeley, California, and Macon, Georgia and one larger city Detroit, Michigan were selected for comparative purposes. Census tract data for the twenty-three cities consisting of twelve different indices representing sex, age, race, nativity, income, education, occupation, employment, and fertility were subjected to correlational analysis.