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We argue that by conducting systematic research with communities rather than on communities, community-based research (CBR) methods can both advance the study of human interaction and strengthen public understanding and appreciation of social sciences. CBR, among other methods, can also address social scientists’ ethical and social commitments. We recap the history of calls by leading sociologists for rigorous, empirical, community-engaged research. We introduce CBR methods as empirically grounded methods for conducting social research with social actors. We define terms and describe the range of methods that we include in the umbrella term, “community-based research.” After providing exemplars of community-based research, we review CBR’s advantages and challenges. We, next, summarize an intervention that we undertook as members of the Publication Committee of the URBAN Research Network’s Sociology section in which the committee developed and disseminated guidelines for peer review of community-based research. We also share initial responses from journal editors. In the conclusion, we revisit the potential of community-based research and note the consequences of neglecting community-based research traditions.

Purpose – This chapter presents information about the residential patterns and reported segregation or discrimination of Latinos in the greater Washington, DC, metropolitan region. The author provides definitions, associated concepts, causes and consequences, selected data findings, and a historical and demographic overview of the Latino population in the region.

Methodology/approach – A literature review of scholarly articles from the social sciences, policy reports, census data, and other public use data, and other publications.

Findings – Data from the Harvard University DiversityData Project (2012) reveals evidence of Hispanic residential segregation throughout the Washington, DC, metropolitan region. In addition, Hispanic children are more racially isolated, have less exposure to Whites, and are more densely populated and residentially clustered in the region.

Research limitations/implications (if applicable) – This chapter does not present new research or original evidence about residential patterns, residential segregation, or housing discrimination among Latinos in the greater Washington, DC, metropolitan region.

Practical/social implications – The prevalence of residential discrimination, segregation and its impact on the restricted residential patterns, social mobility, and isolation of Latinos is a regional and national social problem. The greater Washington, DC, region will continue to receive Latino newcomers who will disperse into areas where they have not resided before. The ways in which they and their families are received and treated by their neighbors can provide context into race relations in a so-called post-racial America.

Originality/value of chapter – The residential patterns of Latinos in the greater Washington, DC, metropolitan region and evidence of the segregation and discrimination they have encountered caution us to examine how segregation perpetuates disadvantage, inequality, racialization, social distance, and other kinds of discrimination. Whether residential segregation is voluntary or involuntary, its remnants are a visceral force that cannot be ignored.

We are reaching the tail‐end of this season's annual meetings and conferences, and a very wide field, as is usual, has been covered : political, industrial, social and scientific. When the subjects discussed are not perhaps in one's own particular orbit of interest there is a tendency to think that certain people enjoy an orgy of verbosity, especially when they can make their own personal contribution. Certain it is that on occasion there is little or no heeding of the injunction of the Scriptures to avoid “ vain repetition ”; but even on this point it is wise to remember that the oldest of stories is always new to some listener. The type of gathering to which is given the grandiose description of “symposium”, usually includes a proportion of old material, but it serves a very useful purpose. Originally the word denoted a drinking party, but this not quite respectable past has now been safely left behind (at least as far the official agenda disclose), and in the scientific field there have been a number of symposia in recent years that have succeeded in bringing together experts in various related fields of knowledge and investigation, and in producing exchanges of information and experience, the hearing or reading of which have been to the great edification of many less proficient but equally interested.

Reveals that there is still, in most US cities, deep segregation of the racial kind, even though this has improved over latter times. Posits that while racists seem to have the power to decide who can live where and that real estate agents and federal housing official have only lent their support to this theme. States that racial segregation can be revealed by the use of zip codes in most areas. Sums up that mixed neighbourhoods with good amenities are most likely to remain stable, for both blacks and whites, and this should be promoted at every turn.

Iran’s metropolitan areas are growing rapidly, and, among them, Shiraz has experienced a high rate of urban sprawl in recent decades. On the other hand, besides wasting the resources, urban sprawl does not follow the principles of sustainable urban development and its consideration would help to determine and employ the required type of sustainable urban development approach. The purpose of this paper is to assess urban sprawl in Shiraz.

First, the indicators and their weights for Shiraz’s sprawl assessment are identified through Delphi and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methods. In addition, the degree of urban sprawl is assessed using the preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE).

The Delphi method produced the four criteria of “land use,” “urban fabric,” “social characteristics,” and “accessibility,” and “urban fabric” was the most important criterion per the AHP. Finally, the results of the PROMETHEE analysis indicated a high amount of urban sprawl in most of Shiraz’s municipal zones.

Therefore, due to the high degree of urban sprawl in Shiraz and its geographical limitations for horizontal development, a study on sustainable approaches to urban development in Shiraz, including Smart Growth and sustainable urban regeneration, seems mandatory for this city. However, this study indicates the requirement for more studies on urban sprawl in major cities of Iran, but by comparison of these findings with other relevant studies, it is inferred that using sustainable urban development approaches seems crucial for the majority of the cities in this country. Finally guidelines on how to impede urban sprawl and encourage sustainable urban development in Shiraz and Iranian cities as well as certain implications in this regard are discussed.

The findings of this study are expected to contribute valuable information for policy makers in terms of urban planning and the development of the cities in Iran.

The literature of ethnic ownership economies descends from middleman minority theory, a subject it continues to include. However, ethnic economy literature now more broadly addresses the economic independence of immigrants and ethnic minorities in general, not just of middleman minorities (Light & Bonacich, 1991, pp. xii–xiii).¹ This expansion releases the subject from narrow concentration upon historical trading minorities, and opens discussion of the entire range of immigrant and ethnic minority strategies for economic self-help and self-defense. Partial or full economic independence represents a ubiquitous self-defense of immigrants and ethnic minorities who confront exclusion or disadvantage in labor markets. Ethnic economies permit immigrants and ethnic minorities to reduce disadvantage and exclusion, negotiating the terms of their participation in the general labor market from a position of greater strength. Unable to find work in the general labor market, or unwilling to accept the work that the general labor market offers, or just reluctant to mix with foreigners, immigrants and ethnic minorities have the option of employment or self-employment in the ethnic economy of their group. Although ethnic and immigrant groups differ in how well and how much they avail themselves of this defense (Collins, 2003; Light & Gold, 2000, p. 34; Logan & Alba, 1999, p. 179), none lacks an ethnic economy.²