Neighborhood Revitalization & Disorder: An Intervention Evaluation, Final Project Report

Six separate studies have been conducted to date (August 2001). The first study assessed the social and physical strengths and vulnerabilities of the community associated with police reports (time 1). The second study analyzed the time by distance from new subdivision effects on incivilities and police reports and the prediction of unexpected changes in police reports from time 1 to time 2, using time 1 and unexpected changes in time 1 to time 2 predictors. The third study addressed psychological associations with reported property repairs and upgrades, observed housing conditions, and resident-reported housing satisfaction at time 2. The fourth and fifth studies measured the social and physical strengths and vulnerabilities associated with fear of crime and place attachment at time 2. The sixth study described in-movers to the new subdivision, associations with their place attachment, and confidence in the neighborhood at time 1. The current report focuses on the first two research projects in detail, provides short summaries of projects two through six, and discusses their policy implications. The data collected in this study provide qualified support for the central purpose of the HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) and city-sponsored intervention, i.e., to use publicly funded infrastructure to attract a private, large-scale in-fill housing development for moderate-income residents and encourage incumbent upgrading spillover effects in the surrounding older, declining neighborhood. The intervention was successful in attracting an ethnically diverse group of residents who expressed great confidence in and attachment to the new subdivision. Higher place attachment was found to be associated with higher collective efficacy, lower fear of crime, and fewer housing incivilities. Thus, collaborative teams of residents, nonprofit groups, and others involved in neighborhood improvement may want to consider programs that enhance pride of place as a positive goal that may have the benefits of crime and/or fear reduction. 11 tables, 103 references, and appended methodological report