In this paper, we investigate residents’ definitions of their own neighborhoods and the salience of neighborhoods for daily life in Los Angeles County. We use data from a new survey, fielded in 2000-2001, that was specifically designed to test hypotheses about neighborhood effects on children and adults. Known as the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (or L.A.FANS), this survey collects data on approximately 40 households in each of 65 neighborhoods in Los Angeles County. As described below, respondents were asked to report on the size of their neighborhood and the geographic location of regular activities for themselves and their children (e.g., work, school, and shopping). Detailed data are also collected on family social and economic status and background as well as a variety of child and family behaviors and outcomes. In our analysis, we concentrate on locations that adult respondents spend their time, including work places, grocery stores, religious institutions, and health care providers.

Changes in the economic conditions are responsible for broad gains and losses across a region, but the ways that these changes play out at a neighborhood level throughout the region are not uniform. Neighborhoods may benefit or suffer disproportionately according to their mix of jobs and income sources, and the ability to respond to new conditions depends on the resources avialable to residents. Spatial differences in economic outcomes have been linked to secular economic changes in which the economy undergoes structural transformations. Communities are also influenced by the short-run up and down variation that are collectively referred to as the business cycle. In the past, little attention has been given to the effects of cyclical contractions and expansions on neighborhoods. This report represents an important first step in understanding the dynamic nature of neighborhood response to cyclical economic fluctuations, but mor study is clearly required. To facilitate such studies, we strongly recommend new efforts to make existing data available to researchers and to explore new avenues of data collection.