Table 4.1.

Research streams in gayborhood studies

Research stream	Questions	Debates	Observational units
Origins and ontology	Why do gayborhoods form? How do they change? Why do gayborhoods appeal to queer people? Why do they appeal to straight people?	Do queer people transform urban areas? Are economic or cultural forces more compelling explanations for the emergence and change of gayborhoods? Do places reflect forms of oppression?	Census tracts, community symbols, collective memories, real estate ads, business and non-profit listings, voting patterns
Organizational forms	What is the institutional profile of a gayborhood? What do they look like in different countries?	Do queer people comprise a “community” in a sociological sense? Do gayborhoods resemble ethnic enclaves? Do they have a global template?	Business, non-profit, and other organizational listings; overall institutional composition; pride parades, festivals, and other cultural events; cross-national comparisons
Technology	How do geo-coded mobile apps affect gayborhoods?	Do apps undermine queer spaces or creatively reconstitute them?	Mobile apps, online dating services, social media, HIV and STI infection rates
Change	Can a city have more than one gayborhood? Why are gay bars closing?	Are economic or cultural forces more compelling predictors of gayborhood change? Do gay bars still matter? Is spatial singularity or plurality a more valid description of urban sexualities?	Census tracts, real estate ads, business and non-profit listings, collective memories, revenues, nighttime economy, pop-ups, cultural archipelagos