Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
relevant are the research findings. Consequently,
over recent decades applied geographers have
focused particular attention on local variations in
poverty and deprivation within cities.
A striking early example of intra-urban variation
in well-being is provided by Bunge and Bordessa's
(1975) map of infant mortality in Detroit, which
revealed that an American born in the central areas
of the city had the same chance of survival as an
infant born in several third world countries (Figure
29.4). The skewed distribution of life chances
within the modern Western city was also revealed
in more recent evidence from Glasgow, which
showed infant mortality rates in the disadvantaged
council estate of Easterhouse to be five times higher
than those in the nearby middle-class suburb of
Bishopbriggs (Pacione 1993).
Applied geographical research into poverty at
the intra-urban scale has generally used the census
tract as the basic frame of reference. Smith (1994)
employed data on median family income and
racial composition to explore the differential
incidence of poverty in Tampa (Figure 29.5). The
marked socio-spatial concentration of poverty in
