Measuring Neighborhood Social Change in Saskatoon, Canada: A Geographic Analysis

The majority of research on neighborhood change in Canada has followed a cross-sectional approach and has relied on census tracts as the basic unit of geography. Due to concerns over methodology and data comparability, very few studies have attempted a direct analysis of change. In response, this article presents a protocol for measuring neighborhood social change applied to Saskatoon, Canada and employs census data for neighborhoods that have been officially designated by the city's Planning Department. Our study found that about half of Saskatoon's 58 neighborhoods experienced stability between 1991 and 2001. However, decline was just as likely to occur in middle- and high-socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhoods as in low-SES neighborhoods while improvement was more likely to occur in the low-SES group. A pronounced division was visible among low-SES neighborhoods, particularly in the city's core. The analysis also found that income, gender, and housing had a strong impact on neighborhood social change and inequality. Interpretation of the findings revealed that a number of factors ranging from local conditions to wider economic and policy shifts had an influence on changing conditions in Saskatoon's neighborhoods.