Paths of Neighborhood Change - Race and Crime in Urban America

• NCJ Number: 95444
• Author(s): R P Taub; D G Taylor; J D Dunham
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 269 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: University of Chicago Press
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study focuses on eight Chicago neighborhoods that illustrate different aspects of the process of neighborhood change -- decline, gentrification, or stability in the face of high and low crime rates and minority presence -- and develops models to elucidate the interplay of forces involved in change.

Abstract

These models demonstrate why middle-class neighborhoods adapt more successfully to racial change than do working-class areas, why crime is not always crucial to the future of neighborhoods, and why such features as parks appear as amenities in some areas and handicaps in others. In examining the role of fear of crime, the authors find that if crime is high but, at the same time, neighborhood housing is appreciating at a satisfactory rate, or the neighborhood has other amenities to offer, or steps are being taken to deal with crime, then crime will not inspire fear. If the neighborhood does not have other satisfactions to offer, or does not show signs of coping with the threat of crime, then crime may inspire fear. The authors suggest that in each neighborhood, events such as crime are interpreted by residents in a way contingent upon other local events. Appendixes and about 115 references are included.