RESIDENTIAL PROXIMITY AMONG RACIAL GROUPS IN US AND CANADIAN NEIGHBORHOODS

The author compares the racial residential proximity patterns in U.S. and Canadian neighborhoods. In the United States, Asian-Americans experience higher levels of residential proximity in neighborhoods with whites than do blacks. In Canada, blacks and Asians experience similar levels of residential proximity in neighborhoods with whites. A dynamic spatial assimilation perspective is proposed to understand the racial residential proximity patterns in neighborhoods in both countries. In the United States, but not in Canada, blacks appear to be in a disadvantaged position in the beginning of the process of spatial assimilation, and other racial groups appear to actively avoid moving into neighborhoods with dominant black presence.