SPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONS OF NEWLY INCORPORATED MUNICIPALITIES (NIMS) AND RELATED SOCIOECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS: A NATIONAL COMPARISON TO COHORT CITIES.

The incorporation of a city is a complex geographic event, yet the geography of newly incorporated municipalities (NIM) has been understudied. This paper first explores the highly uneven spatial distribution of NIMs in the United States, arguing that one potential explanation for the underlying geographic concentration of NIMs to a select few states may lie with the varied annexation standards of each state. However, it is also argued that the concentration of NIMs in particular "hotspots" within specific states suggests that something more is at play, and the localized clustering effect seems to be stimulated by a process of knowledge spillover and social networks of learning. Second, little research has been conducted that empirically compares the socio-economic characteristics of NIMs to a set of nearby cohort cities. It is argued that while race, income, population size, and population density are key differentiating variables between NIMs and cohort cites, nuanced differences and similarities exist that make it difficult to support sweeping generalizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]