The Growth and Structure of Urban Residential Developments: An Empirical Examination of 1950 to 1970 Residential Growth and Structural Patterns of Five Randomly Selected Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas With One to Two Million 1970 Populations

The purpose of this research has been to determine whether or not Homer Hoyt's principles of residential neighborhood structure and growth, as developed in his pre-World War II "Sector Theory" were valid from 1950 to 1970 for Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (S.M.S. A. ) with 1970 populations of one to two million. To this purpose, a sample of five cities were studied using three primary variables: family income, housing value, and contract rents. Each variable was analyzed separately, being divided into five intervals to show the relative gradation of residential areas. To determine whether or not the differentiation of urban residential areas complied with Homer Hoyt's "Sector Theory" a method of weighted dominant classification was developed to highlight the predominance and relative concentration of each criteria classification. Each census tract was classified into the class which recorded the greatest relative concentration. The weighted dominant methodology proved to be a very effective method in determining high status and low status residential area locations.