Neighborhood Revitalization and Disorder in Salt Lake City, Utah, 1993-2000

This project examined physical incivilities (disorder),
social strengths and vulnerabilities, and police reports in a
declining first-ring suburb of Salt Lake City. Physical and social
conditions were assessed on residential face blocks surrounding a new
subdivision that was built as a revitalization effort. Data were
collected before and after the completion of the new subdivision to
assess the effects of the subdivision and of more proximal social and
physical conditions on residents' blocks in order to understand
important revitalization outcomes of crime, fear, and housing
satisfaction and conditions. The study also highlighted place
attachment of residents as a psychological strength that deserved
greater attention. The research site consisted of a neighborhood
located on the near west side of Salt Lake City that had been
experiencing gradual decline. The neighborhood surrounded a new
84-unit single family detached housing subdivision, which was built in
1995 with money from a HUD demonstration grant. The study began in
1993 with a systematic observational assessment of crime and
fear-related physical features on 59 blocks of the older neighborhood
surrounding the planned housing site and 8 sampled addresses on each
block, followed by interviews with surrounding block residents during
1994-1995, interviews with residents in the newly built housing in
1997, and interviews and physical condition assessments on the
surrounding blocks in 1998-1999. Police crime report and city
building permit data for the periods during and immediately following
both waves of data collection were obtained and matched to sample
addresses. Variables in Parts 1 and 2, Environmental and Survey Data
for Older Subdivision, focus on distance of respondent's home to the
subdivision, psychological proximity to the subdivision, if new
housing was in the respondent's neighborhood, nonresidential
properties on the block, physical incivilities, self-reported past
victimization, fear of crime, place attachment, collective efficacy
(neighboring, participation, social control, sense of community),
rating of neighborhood qualities, whether block neighbors had improved
property, community confidence, perceived block crime problems,
observed conditions, self-reported home repairs and improvements,
building permits, and home satisfaction. Demographic variables for
Parts 1 and 2 include income, home ownership, ethnicity, religion,
gender, age, marital status, if the resident lived in a house,
household size, number of children in the household, and length of
residence. Variables in Part 3, Environmental and Survey Data for
Intervention Site, include neighborhood qualities and convenience,
whether the respondent's children would attend a local school, and
variables similar to those in Parts 1 and 2. Demographic variables in
Part 3 specify the year the respondent moved in, number of children in
the household, race and ethnicity, marital status, religion, sex, and
income in 1996.

Tags: communities, community-development, crime, fear-of-crime, housing, housing-conditions, housing-programs, neighborhood-change, neighborhood-conditions, neighborhoods, police-reports, salt-lake-city, united-states, utah
Organization: Department of Justice