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Abstract
This dissertation is a mixed-methods exploration of neighborhood change in Charlotte, North Carolina focused specifically on the impact of mortgage lending patterns leading up to the Great Recession of 2008 as well neoliberal policies and discourse. Using cluster analysis and a spatial data mining algorithm, I mapped trajectories of change in lending patterns across the Charlotte metropolitan area for the years 2000-2006. This analysis drove the selection of six case study neighborhoods for qualitative analysis, including interviews, content analysis, and discourse analysis to identify behaviors, policies, and transactions impacting processes of change. The study’s major contributions include the proposal of a continuum model for the consideration of processes of change within cities and their surrounding areas, a rigorous method for the conduction of discourse analysis in human geography, an empirical justification for the inclusion of mortgage lending activity in studies of neighborhood change, and a call for activism surrounding the interaction of developers and neighborhood residents.