Linked Activity Spaces: Embedding Social Networks in Urban Space - Computational Approaches for Urban Environments - page 322

could be found by determining places that are convenient for pairs or groups of
friends to meet, and combining this with other criteria, such as low traffic or areas
known to be safe for pedestrians.
This method can also be used to understand the size, temporal persistence, and
location (thus, level of accessibility to other places, environmental quality of the
land) of certain places, such as ethnic or working neighborhoods (such as homes
near a factory), where members form a dense group of ties - e.g., neighbors are
likely to know and depend on one another. The method can show where these
neighborhoods are and how they expand and contract over time. This can be useful
for investigations of urban social capital (Granovetter 1983 ), cultural assimilation
(De Blij and Murphy 1986 ), or models of epidemiology or idea spreading.
It is clear that we are only at the beginning of understanding how interpersonal
relationships manifest themselves in the built environment. Yet it is a phenomenon;
we experience daily as we meet colleagues at work, family at home, and perhaps
friends in third places. The tension between the costs of movement in cities and
the need for access to the possibilities of the city also guide our decisions about
raising families through the choice of neighborhoods and school districts, as well
as migration, through the choice of leaving established social circles for new circles
(or vice versa).

13.6 Conclusion

A healthy city is built on strong social networks (Gilchrist 2009 ), but we still do
not know what kinds of ties exist in cities and neighborhoods nor the detailed
social dynamics that creates and changes them. Because of these limitations, we
cannot currently use social network structures (clustered, decentralized, hub-spoke,
etc.) as cause or effect variables in assessing planning choices for new or existing
neighborhoods and cities. However, as this type of data becomes richer, such studies
will become increasingly possible,
Our ability to socialize with others is affected by urban planning and government
decisions regarding low-income housing, immigration reform, and health codes,
such as the number of people to an urban residence or the choice of building
subdivisions versus condominiums (Farber and Li 2013 ) or narrow versus wide
roads (Montgomery 2013 ). The spatial and social clustering of ties changes with the
creation and dissolution of institutions, such as firms, universities, military bases,
sports franchises, and religious institutions. Less socialization may also lead to
stagnated mobility, not due to a lack of accessibility, but to a reduced need for third
places to socialize (Rosenbaum 2006 ), and visit others' homes.
Urban planners, geographers, government officials, civil engineers, and trans-
portation planners that focus on improving social life in their city may be able
to more directly improve residents' quality of life (Cacioppo and Patrick 2008 ),
more so than traditional national level economic stimuli (Montgomery 2013 ).
Instead, planners and geographers have worked toward better urban environments