The Spatial Interaction of Blacks in Metropolitan Areas

THE SPATIAL INTERACTION OF BLACKS IN METROPOLITAN AREAS fames O. Wheeler* Many writers have noted that an important function of the urban area is to maximize opportunities of contact between people and activities , activities and activities, and people and people. The need for such contact or interaction has led to the evolution of the modern metropolis through savings derived from the agglomeration of social and economic activities. (1) Since the opportunities for social and economic contact are spatially distributed, transportation and communication may be viewed as key processes in the functioning of an urban area, as well as in its historical development. In fact, one writer has gone so far as to suggest that "the unique commodity that the metropolitan settlement has to offer is lower communication costs." (2) Not all members of the urban population, however, are able to participate fully and equally in the wide range of potential services and opportunities the urban area provides. In virtually all American cities, the group most restricted in its ability fo share the spatial set of opportunities is the black group, territorially restricted in residential choice and as a consequence having limited linkages with work, shopping, business , medical, and social alternatives in the urban area. Blacks, therefore, may be forced to bear a higher interaction cost in maintaining an urban life-style, while at the same time obtaining a significantly inferior quality of satisfaction at available trip ends. Although no residential neighborhood possesses equal accessibility to all parts of the metropolitan area, blacks within the ghetto are far more cut-off and isolated than any other neighborhood group, as the term ghetto implies. (3) The entire way-of-life of the ghetto resident is a reflection of the severe limits imposed on his spatial mobility. Foremost is the restriction placed on information flow between the ghetto and the remainder of the city. The ghetto boundaries act as permeable barriers through which two-way information selectively moves. The degree to which behavior and attitudes are a result of available information explains much about ghetto and non-ghetto differences. A second and related question is the nature of the information flow and the interaction within the ghetto itself. To what extent are communication channels and transportation facilities found within the ghetto recognized and used by the residents and to what extent are they superimposed on the ghetto by and for the service of the white society? Although virtually no data exist describing information content and flow, selective data can be used to measure and evaluate the adequacy *Dr. Wheeler is associate professor of geography at the University of Georgia. The paper was accepted for publication in June 1971. 102Southeastern Geographer of transport facilities and the spatial dimensions of the flows. A small number of recent studies have focused on the spatial mobility consequences of residential segregation and on the problems of transportation facilities available to ghetto residents. Kain, studying Detroit and Chicago, pointed out that residential segregation affects the distribution of black employment locations by limiting job opportunities remotely located away from the ghetto. (4) Wheeler confirmed this finding in Pittsburgh but, by contrast, found that Negroes in Tulsa are forced to travel farther to work than whites as blacks chase "fewer and fewer manual jobs farther and farther into suburban areas." (5) Whereas housing discrimination continues to confine the black to the ghetto, spatial concentration of employment has been weakened, more as a result of a spread in job locations than a reduction in the friction of distance. Deskins, using data from Detroit, uncovered similar findings: although blacks were less mobile in 1953, by 1965 they generally traveled greater distances to work than whites. (6) These studies point up basic differences in black interaction patterns as a consequence of the spatial structure of trip origins and destinations. There has been increased recognition of the transportation problems confronting ghetto residents, a condition brought to public attention with the publication of the McCone Report. (7) Since then, there have been several studies and reports decrying the lack of mobility of inner city blacks and other low income families. (8) Mass transit remains slow, circuitous, inflexible, and tiresome. The inescapable statistic that looms above all...