A Covariance Structural Analysis of a Conceptual Neighborhood Model

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A Covariance Structural Analysis of a Conceptual Neighborhood Model A COVARIANCE STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF A CONCEPTUAL NEIGHBORHOOD MODEL A dissertation submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Kevin A. Butler August 2008 Dissertation written by Kevin A. Butler B.S., The University of Akron, 1995 M.S., The University of Akron, 2003 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2008 Approved by __________________________________, Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Milton Harvey, Ph. D. __________________________________, Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Michael Hu, Ph. D. __________________________________ David Keller, Ph. D. __________________________________ Mandy Munro-Stasiuk, Ph. D. __________________________________ Scott Sheridan, Ph. D. Accepted by ____________________________________, Acting Chair, Department of Geography Mandy Munro-Stasiuk, Ph. D. ____________________________________, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences Timothy S. Moerland, Ph. D. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ viii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1. Consequences of Metropolitan Fragmentation: The Neighborhood Concept ............... 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Regions ............................................................................................................................ 2 Uniform Regions ......................................................................................................... 3 Functional Regions ...................................................................................................... 4 Planning Regions ......................................................................................................... 4 Fluidity Among Approaches to Regions ...................................................................... 5 The Neighborhood Concept ............................................................................................ 6 Goals of the Dissertation .............................................................................................. 11 Organization of the Dissertation ................................................................................... 12 2. History and Evolution of Akron Neighborhoods ........................................................... 13 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 13 A Brief History of Akron ................................................................................................ 15 The Canal Era ............................................................................................................ 15 Industrialized Akron .................................................................................................. 17 Akron’s Current Land Use Patterns........................................................................... 18 Neighborhood Profiles .................................................................................................. 26 A. Original Settlement and Early Expansion [EE] ...................................................... 26 1. Downtown ......................................................................................................... 27 2. Middlebury ........................................................................................................ 29 3. East Akron ......................................................................................................... 32 4. South Akron ...................................................................................................... 35 5. Summit Lake ...................................................................................................... 37 B. Annexation Neighborhoods [ANX]........................................................................ 40 1. Ellet ................................................................................................................... 41 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) 2. Kenmore ............................................................................................................ 43 3. Merriman Valley................................................................................................ 45 C. Industrial Neighborhood Development [IND] ...................................................... 48 1. Goodyear Heights ............................................................................................. 49 2. Firestone Park ................................................................................................... 52 D. Neighborhood Retail Centers [RET] ...................................................................... 53 1. Highland Square ................................................................................................ 54 2. North Hill ........................................................................................................... 56 3. Wallhaven ......................................................................................................... 59 E. Neighborhoods As Large Retail and Service Centers [LRG] .................................. 61 1. Chapel Hill ......................................................................................................... 61 2. Rolling Acres ...................................................................................................... 64 3. University Park .................................................................................................. 66 F. Neighborhoods based on Socio-Economic Status [SES] ....................................... 69 1. Lane Wooster .................................................................................................... 69 2. Fairlawn Heights................................................................................................ 72 3. Northwest Akron ............................................................................................... 74 4. Elizabeth Park Valley ......................................................................................... 76 5. West Akron ....................................................................................................... 79 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 82 3. Conceptual Framework: Galster ................................................................................... 83 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 83 Galster’s Definition of Neighborhood ........................................................................... 84 Varying Spatial Scales of Neighborhood ....................................................................... 87 Degree of Presence of Neighborhood .......................................................................... 90 Toward the Empirical Evaluation of Galster’s Model ................................................... 92 4. The General Factor Model (GFM) ................................................................................. 94 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 94 The General Factor Model (GFM) ................................................................................. 96 Principal Component Analysis (PCA) ........................................................................... 103 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) ............................................................................... 104 Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) ............................................................................ 105 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Summary ..................................................................................................................... 107 5. Data Sources ............................................................................................................... 109 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 109 Data Sources ............................................................................................................... 109 Operationalizing Galster’s Constructs ........................................................................ 110 Sample Size ................................................................................................................. 112 6. Results: Descriptive Statistics and Data Transformations .......................................... 114 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 114 Measurement Scale of the Observed Variables ......................................................... 114 Statistical Distribution of the Data.............................................................................. 116 Analysis Method ......................................................................................................... 118 Missing Data
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