Use this free practice quiz with 20 questions to review 6 Inequality and Social Change in Cities, test your knowledge, and prepare for your next test or exam.
Two neighborhoods have unequal access to services and employment. The difference is linked to past housing and land-use decisions as well as current market conditions. Which explanation best fits the material's account of how urban inequality is produced?
The inequality is best explained by the different personal preferences of residents.
The pattern may reflect structural processes involving institutions, rules, markets, and accumulated decisions.
The pattern shows that class and race are interchangeable concepts.
The pattern proves that every household in the neighborhood has the same experience.
A previously lower-income neighborhood attracts new businesses and building investment, alongside an influx of higher-income residents. Which term best describes this neighborhood change, even if some long-time residents remain?
Disinvestment, because public resources and private capital have withdrawn.
Gentrification, because higher-income residents and investment are entering a previously lower-income area.
Residential segregation, because social groups are separated across neighborhoods.
Displacement, because any new business opening forces a household to move.
A city builds a new transit line through a neighborhood. Which statement best describes the possible effects of this investment?
It always prevents nearby housing costs from rising.
It inevitably displaces residents, regardless of local conditions.
It may improve access and also increase housing desirability and costs; the outcome depends on local conditions and policy.
It affects commutes but cannot influence housing demand.
Which examples could represent displacement as defined in the material? Select all that apply.
A tenant is evicted after a building is sold.
A household moves to a larger home by choice while its housing remains affordable.
A rent increase makes a household's home unaffordable.
A new park opens while residents continue to live in their homes and use familiar community services.
Long-time residents remain in place but lose familiar businesses and social networks as the area changes.
A city wants to improve neighborhoods while helping residents share in the benefits of change. Which actions fit the material's proposed responses? Select all that apply.
Enforce fair-housing protections.
Preserve existing affordable homes.
Remove tenant protections to make redevelopment easier.
Support tenants and homeowners at risk of displacement.
Involve residents in planning decisions.
A study finds that adult outcomes vary among people who grew up in different neighborhoods. This finding means that a person's neighborhood alone determines their future.
True
False
A neighborhood's population changes, but that fact alone does not reveal whether residents moved because of rising costs, other neighborhood conditions, or unrelated reasons.
True
False
In what year did the Fair Housing Act make many forms of housing discrimination illegal? Enter the year as four digits.
What term describes the separation of social groups across neighborhoods? Enter the two-word term.
When a neighborhood has low political and market power, it may experience weaker services or continued .
Urban inequality can include unequal access to income, housing, education, health, and political .
Explain how residential segregation can reinforce inequality across generations. Include at least two neighborhood conditions that can affect opportunity, and clarify why this does not mean a neighborhood determines every resident's future.
A long-time resident stays in their home, but familiar local businesses and community networks disappear as the neighborhood changes. Which concept best describes this experience?
Physical displacement, because the resident has been evicted.
Cultural displacement, because familiar businesses and social networks have changed.
Disinvestment, because a resident's neighbors have moved away.
Residential segregation, because the resident remains in the same home.
Displacement can occur only when someone is forced to move out of a home they already occupy.
True
False
Which example best illustrates urban inequality?
A city adds a new park that is equally accessible to all residents.
Two nearby neighborhoods have sharply different access to secure housing, quality schools, and reliable transportation.
A household chooses to move from one neighborhood to another.
A city has more residents than it did ten years ago.
What term describes the withdrawal of public resources or private capital from a neighborhood?
Which description best fits gentrification?
A neighborhood loses public resources and private capital over time.
Residents are forced to move because housing costs become unaffordable.
Investment and higher-income residents move into a previously lower-income neighborhood.
A neighborhood's population changes for any reason.
Which statement best describes how race and class can shape residential opportunity?
Race and class are identical because both refer only to household income.
Class can shape what a household can afford, while racial discrimination and policy can also shape housing access and wealth.
Race affects where people live, but class has no influence on housing choices.
Residential patterns result only from individual household decisions.
Why can residential segregation reinforce inequality across generations?
It can concentrate differences in schools, services, job networks, and political influence, reinforcing inequality over time.
It ensures that all neighborhoods receive the same resources and opportunities.
It affects housing patterns but has no connection to access to jobs or services.
It determines every resident's future in the same way.
What adjective describes processes that arise from institutions, rules, markets, and accumulated decisions rather than simply from individual choices?