Patterns of family location.

Theoretical propositions from human ecology are used to develop a model that explains the centralization or decentralization of various types of families, such as married couples with children, in the Cleveland, Ohio, Metropolitan Area. The model shows how proximity to the Central Business District affects neighborhoods in terms of three characteristics: Age or period of development, both internal and external housing Space, and Site features such as industrial and recreational activity. These structural characteristics are seen, in turn, as the causes of the location of families in relationship to the center of Cleveland. Of the three characteristics, Space generally plays the most important and Site the least important role in determining the location of types of families. However, the location of most types of families is affected by a variety of interrelation- ships among neighborhood characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]