Analysis of Determinants in Neighborhood Satisfaction

Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations School of Public Service Winter 2007 Analysis of Determinants in Neighborhood Satisfaction Between Defended and Defensible Communities Within the General and Urban Housing Environments David William Chapman Old Dominion University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/publicservice_etds Part of the Public Administration Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Recommended Citation Chapman, David W.. "Analysis of Determinants in Neighborhood Satisfaction Between Defended and Defensible Communities Within the General and Urban Housing Environments" (2007). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), dissertation, , Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/e82v-h542 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/publicservice_etds/22 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Public Service at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ANALYSIS OF DETERMINANTS IN NEIGHBORHOOD SATISFACTION BETWEEN DEFENDED AND DEFENSIBLE COMMUNITIES WITHIN THE GENERAL AND URBAN HOUSING ENVIRONMENTS David William Chapman B.S. 1975, University of Virginia M.S. 2002, University of Virginia A Dissertation to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND URBAN POLICY OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY December 2007 Reviewed by: Approved by: Nancy A. ^agranoff Berhanu Mengistu (Director) Dean Professor of Public Administration College of Business and and Urban Policy Public Administration Jqmn)C. Morris John R. Lombard (Member) Graduate Program Director Associate Professor of Public Department of Urban Studies Administration and1 Urban Policy and Public Administration Stacey-BfPlichta (Member) Associate Professor of Community and Environmental Health Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT AN ANALYSIS OF DETERMINANTS IN NEIGHBORHOOD SATISFACTION BETWEEN DEFENDED AND DEFENSIBLE COMMUNITIES WITHIN THE GENERAL AND URBAN HOUSING ENVIRONMENTS David William Chapman Old Dominion University Director: Dr. Berhanu Mengistu The purpose of this study is to provide a detailed examination and analysis of neighborhood satisfaction determinants among residents living within defended and defensible gated communities in the United States. The study considers whether there are significant differences in the determinants at national or regional levels and whether there are significant differences within the components of individual household characteristics, neighborhood quality characteristics, or both. The theoretical framework and model for neighborhood satisfaction used with this study is based on a modified model of Lu’s work on neighborhood satisfaction (1999, pp. 78-79) and residential mobility (1996) that were based on Speare’s (1974) earlier work on residential mobility decision-making. Additionally, the statistical construct and specific regression technique suggested by Lu (1999) is used and extended during the data analysis process. This research presents a quantitative analysis of multi-year data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s National (2005) and Metropolitan (2002 and 2004) American Housing Surveys. The analysis investigates bivariate and multivariate relationships between the independent variables of internal (individual and household) characteristics and external (dwelling and neighborhood/area) characteristics Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. constrained by defensible and defended gated communities using neighborhood satisfaction as the dependent variable. This study addresses a gap in the body of literature and research regarding the categorization of gated communities and the determinants of neighborhood satisfaction. Prior research efforts have not considered this gated community classification in analytical depth. Past works in this narrowed area have been descriptive efforts. The conclusions reached by this effort have applicability to theory, analysis, and practice. The study suggests an alteration to the modeling component of neighborhood satisfaction determinants. The analysis uses a more precise technique than previous studies in the investigation of ordinal-level data and the method may be used as a reference or springboard for future efforts. The research showed the significance of the neighborhood satisfaction determinants of housing satisfaction and personal safety factors, but of the statistical non-significance of the defended and defensible dichotomy in the full multivariate context. The research findings will be useful to policy makers, redevelopment authorities, new construction developers, and other real estate interests. The decision process for financial investments in developing defended or defensible communities have the potential to be based on this work. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. V To L. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are a number of people who have helped shape the sum-total of this effort. As with everything we do, there does seem to be a Butterfly Effect on who we are and what we produce. People have a cascading impact on others no matter how small they may think it is. Such is the stuff of philosophers... I would first like to offer great thanks to my Dissertation Committee, Dr. Berhanu Mengistu, Dr. John Lombard, and Dr. Stacey Plichta. In the end, it was somewhat fitting that they all be on my committee. Dr. Mengistu was the first person in the program that I met and he has provided invaluable advice in subtle, serious, and humorous contexts. Dr. Plichta and Dr. Lombard were the two professors I had during my first semester in the PhD program and were instrumental in pushing me towards a number of research interest directions, as well as making me think a bit more about questioning assumptions and asking “so what?”. Next, I wish to extend my appreciation to my cognate professor, Dr. Rick Overbaugh of the Instructional Design and Technology Program in the Darden College of Education. Dr. Overbaugh’s rather enlightened educational outlook and his interesting classes were great extensions for me in the overall program and permitted pursuit of a number of additional academic topics that I might have never had the chance to explore. Most folks are not aware, but my somewhat belated academic bug was brought forward by Dr. Ryan Nelson, Dr. Bob Kemp, and Dr. Barb Wixom of the Mclntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. Dr. Nelson’s and Dr. Kemp’s enthusiasm, intelligence, and wit somehow lit a dormant flame when I met them at an introductory program and during my time in my Masters program. Dr. Wixom’s interest Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. in data warehousing and information discovery as well as her enthusiasm for teaching sparked my desire to learn more about quantitative analysis and data mining. My mother and father were and are, in their own ways, great contributors to my academic push. Momma never pushed me much in school (“just do the best you can”), but pushing me may not have helped in my rather resistive younger days; unfortunately, she never knew of my later academic interests but had always wanted me to return to school for a higher degree. On the other hand, Pops has been accessible and encouraging while I have worked on my Masters and PhD and I value that. My wife, Laurie, and, son, David Jr., have tolerated quite a lot while I have taken classes and spent hours in the library in addition to my elective activities (e.g., rugby, music, and computer-related ‘stuff). I just hope they realize how much I will always appreciate their tolerance for my active, relentless mind and odd humor. I also hope that this is one way that I have been a positive male role model for David Jr. Finally, during all of those hours of taking classes and spending time in the library, I would be found with headphones connected to my laptop (and to my head) listening to music of various genres. In order to concentrate, I really needed to blot out the world and accomplished that with sound. There were a number of songs that I would loop and listen to over and over again, but the following piece received a lot of personal airplay and expresses my need for academic (and personal) seclusion: Cause in my head there's a Greyhound station Where I send my thoughts to far-off destinations So they may have a chance of finding a place Where they’re far more suited than here... (Ben Gibbard (2005). Soul meets body [Recorded by Death Cab for Cutie]. On Plans [CD], New York: Atlantic.) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF TABLES..................................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1..................................................................................................................................

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