Article review

    This article was written by two authors, that is Lyndsay N. Boggess and John R. Hipp. It was initially published online on August 13, 2014, but it was later updated on 20th August 2016. It was published by Justice Quarterly publishers in California. The authors are well knowledgeable of the topic under research and this evident from their professions. Lyndsay is an assistant professor at the University of South Florida and she is in the department of criminology.  Her key interest in the research is the correlation between the societies and crime with a key interest in the changes in the neighborhood, racial and ethnic structure and the housing marketing. John, on the other hand, is a professor at the University of California Irvine and he is at the sector of criminology, law, and society. His interest in the research is on the way in which neighborhoods transform over time and how the transformation influences and is affected by the neighborhood crimes and the part networks as well as institutions play in that transformation.

    According to the article, there is a clear correlation between the neighborhoods social- demographic variations and crime which has resulted in a long-lasting interest in criminology and the sociological research. Currently, most hypothetical and rule research focuses on the effects of community variations over time in the different intensities of crime as opposed to the traditional neighborhood effects research which focused more on the single point in time. The article, therefore, states that there are relatively high numbers of urban neighborhoods that have improved over time since there has been an increased interest in the way the intensities of crime vary when the levels of social economic prominence in the community develops (Boggess & John 585). This has therefore raised so many questions as pertaining to gentrification and its effects on the neighborhoods.

Different researchers have researched on the topic and thus they have come up with different kinds of literature based on their findings on the effects of gentrification on crime. However, there has been a gap that has existed from all those research as they have all focused on the advancement of the existing information and knowledge of the social economic development and the gentrification of varying societies and they have failed to research on the spatial components of gentrification. This has therefore created a gap for the author of this article to research on as there is only a few research that accounts for spatial process that is undertaken in the neighboring societies. It is, however, essential to consider the geographical extent to which the gentrification occurs (Boggess & John 585).  The crime rates in the neighborhoods vary depending on the type of neighborhood. For instance, those neighborhoods that have gentrified groups might have lower crime rates as compared to those in an introverted neighborhood located in the mid of a disadvantaged society. This is because the gentrified groups are far in the process of improvement than the solitary neighborhoods. However, the high rate of crime in the solitary groups is as a result of the intervention of the offenders from the nearby neighborhoods which are disadvantaged where they ill-treat the solitary neighborhood and there may be distinctive consequences for violent crimes in comparison with the types of property crimes. It is, therefore, important to understand the manner in which the intensities of crime vary in a neighborhood that is experiencing redevelopment and also indulging the way in which the nearby neighborhoods are evolving. The article, therefore, focuses on the effects of improvement of home values with respect to crime rates in neighborhoods which is one of the characteristics of gentrification (Boggess & John 585). The study is mainly concerned with the spatial processes that are related to gentrification through the measuring of whether the variations in the nearby neighborhoods influence the number of crimes in a community.

Another focus of this article is the correlation between the economic development and crime with a detailed discussion on the neighborhood advancement integrating the urban matters, sociological and the criminal study and the consequences of redevelopment on crime (Boggess & John 585).

    Basing on other authors, redevelopment is linked with an inflow of greater income occupants who get financial as well as social wealth that develop their neighborhood. Thus gentrification is viewed to have three features but over time different authors have critiqued these features. However, the author argues that the definition that defines gentrification is limited as it only examines the economic development in the regions and fails to give explanation for the population dislocation traditional shift and the variation in the social class of the inhabitants that are more than often related with redevelopment (Boggess & John 586). There are several ways in which gentrification can be spurred. One of the ways is through the intentional undertaking by the government with an aim of revitalizing neighborhoods. Another way is to the private investors who purchase the inexpensive possessions with an aim of renovating and flipping them and using them as rentals. It is Cleary evident from the literature from the earlier on researchers that the degree of redevelopment only explains the general development of the housing values irrespective of what introduced the development. Most of the people tend to believe that redevelopment is an inner city process that is limited to poor neighborhoods or one that involves a time of disinvestment or failure proceeding to development. However, this perception has changed over time and currently; redevelopment is no longer perceived as an inner city occurrence as other readings have observed that this development occurs in the environs as well as in the rural areas (Boggess & John 588).

    There are different theories that have been formulated so as to predict the effects of redevelopment for crime since the consequences of redevelopment for neighborhoods are unclear and they take the time to be perceived. One of the theories is on the social disorganization which argues that most of the crimes are as a result of the neighborhood social state rather than the individual characteristics of the neighborhood inhabitants. Some of the researchers have supported this theory while others have critiqued the theory as they disregard the evidences of the theory (Boggess & John 589).

    According to the article, the only way through which the researcher can be able to understand the spatial effects of gentrification is through the integration of the study of the gentrification process within a neighborhood as well as within the nearby neighborhoods (590). Basing on the prior literature it is evident that the understanding of the spatial processes is essential as it aids in the understanding of the neighborhood. Another form of spatial process argues that once a gentrifying neighborhood have a less motivated criminals due to the compositional variation of the inhabitants in their own community, the crime rate reduces in the nearby vicinities as the spatial configurations of the offenders are well known and the areas where they commit their crimes (Boggess & John 593). There has been mixed findings from the prior research which have given different empirical values on the evidence that has been brought forth by the examination of the gentrification and the neighborhood crime.

    The article therefore has utilized different data collection methods which have provided different data that has been used in the analysis process so as to give a concise result. Basing on the results, the article discusses these findings in a more detailed manner. One of the findings state that there is an increment in crime for the neighborhoods that undergo through economic development due to the variation in the nearby neighborhoods.

 Another finding stated that the environs that had originally high home standards had better increment in crime rate than those environs that had low preliminary home value.

    The authors address the issue on spatial extents of redevelopment and the effects of community crime as an issue of concern that needs to be addressed. They have therefore gone ahead to identify some of the unique areas in which other researchers have failed to research on. Thus they have carried out a thorough research on the topic and hence giving detailed information on the topic. Several examples have been used and past research has been reviewed by the authors so as to make the topic understandable as they relate and compare the past with the present neighborhoods and crime rates. In their research, they assume that the reader knows nothing and thus they explain the issue in details thus allowing anyone reading the report of the research to understand the full extent of the issue.

    The selection of this article is relevant to the topic of interest in the discipline of the urban scene. This is because the class focuses more on the historic view of the human settlement as well as the cities. This has emphasized on the cities and the urban society inclusive of the demography, housing, social economic, infrastructure, development, government, planning and land use. The research from this article focuses on examining the neighborhood economic development and the occurrences of the nearby neighborhoods and the effects associated with the crime rates. This touches on the economic aspect that is studied in the class. As the spatial extent to which the urban cities are developed requires the study of the urban scene which will guide in the process of gentrification and thus the article is important as it will enhance more understanding on the issue of gentrification to the students. The knowledge gathered from the class enhances the understanding of the article as one can relate what is taught in class to that which is explained in the article as the information relates to one another.

    The authors have carried out their research as well as they have identified the previous research in the same field and in their critical analysis they were able to identify the spatial area which has not been fully researched on. This makes their work essential as there exist only a few other research information on the same. The authors have organized their work well and thus allowing one to understand the flow of their information on the issue. The use of different empirical data from the past data allows good comparison that makes it easier to draw conclusion of the issues affecting the neighborhoods even at the present times. The use of maps and graphs as a form of physical representation of their theoretical argument enables one to relate the information with the image formed in the mind from the graphs and the map. The data that is collected were divided into two that is the dependent data variables and the independent data variables that enhanced a quick effective and efficient process when it came to analyzing the data and coming up with the final results of the issue. This is inclusive of the use of t-tests that the authors used so as to statistically test for the important variances between the samples that were used as a representation of the full area under study (Boggess & John 605). The authors also recognizes some of the limitations that faced their research which is a good thing as it allows this research to be cyclical as they may opt to carry out another research so as to discuss on these problems (Boggess & John 609).

    It is therefore quite evident from the research that there is a relationship that exists between the aggregating home values and crime. This relationship is nuanced as well as dependent on progressive and also on the spatial processes. It is also evident that economic development has some effects on the crime rates in the neighborhood. 

 

Thus it is important as seen from the study to account for the occurrences in the localities surrounding a redeveloping neighborhood since a neighborhood that has an increasing home values will have the highest increment in terms of crime rates specifically the violent crimes. Additionally, in disparity with the earlier on research, it is evident that home owner’s insecurity may be used as a balancing force against the increment of the number of crimes due to the increase in the home values. Thus the assumption that the increase in crime in the redeveloping and gentrifying neighborhoods is as a result of the inhabitant’s instability is not entirely true and thus it requires reconsideration. Thus in order for one to understand the process of spatial dimension and gentrification and the effects of crime on the neighborhood, will require one to move beyond the urban village viewpoint and accounting  for the consequences of this practice for the nearby environs (Boggess & John 610).

    In conclusion, gentrification is a spatial long winded process that simultaneously interprets for the modifications in the home values in the central neighborhoods and those that surround the neighborhood helps in offering an explanation for the changing intensified attacks in specific. The crime rates have been studied within a range of ten years in Los Angeles which was the case study area. Spatial context is so essential since the redeveloping neighborhoods that are located on the borderline of the redevelopment progression which has significant more intensified attacks than the redeveloping vicinities that are bounded by environs that are also experiencing development. Thus the scope of neighborhoods is set in a larger practice of the financial development while the community which is in the financial development progression experience different effects on the community crime.

 

References

    Boggess, Lyndsay N., and John R. Hipp. "The Spatial Dimensions of Gentrification and the Consequences for Neighborhood Crime." Justice Quarterly 33.4 (2016): 584-613.