Subjective Mapping Methodologies For Incorporating Spatial Variation In Research On Social Capital And Sense Of Place

In a number of areas of research concerning community sustainability, there is an emerging appreciation of the spatial component of social processes. One foremost spatial issue in community research involves variations in the level of scale of a number of social concepts including social capital. An appreciation of this issue highlights conceptual and empirical overlaps across research in community sustainability. Moreover, it provides an opportunity to contribute to urban and regional planning in meaningful ways through the development of existing place-based methodologies which are capable of defining spatial scales of relevance to policy and research. This paper seeks to provide a level of methodological integration so that research can incorporate spatial variation in analyses of social capital and other concepts relevant to community sustainability. First, the importance of the spatial dimension of social capital and the methodological limitations of existing approaches is highlighted. Next, a number of methodologies for generating spatial data are noted as a basis for presenting a mapping method capable of capturing the individual‐level spatial variation in social capital. Finally, a data analysis approach is presented so that spatial data can be incorporated in place‐based analyses of social capital and community dynamics.