This week we will focus on how to overcome community disorder. We will explore two research articles dealing with this topic. They offer two different solutions, and we will discuss how we can see our communities moving forward.
To read:
Solutions to Community-Driven Disorder by Pizarro, J. M., Sadler, R. C., Goldstick, J., Turchan, B., McGarrell, E. F., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2020). Community-driven disorder reduction: Crime prevention through a clean and green initiative in a legacy city. Urban Studies.
Creating Moves to Opportunity: Experimental Evidence on Barriers to Neighborhood Choice by Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, Peter Bergman, Stefanie DeLuca, Lawrence Katz, Christopher Palmer NBER WORKING PAPER NO. 26164 AUGUST 2019: https://opportunityinsights.org/paper/cmto/
To watch:
A little green space can make a big difference in blighted city neighborhoods, according to recent research from Philadelphia. It found that turning vacant lots into mini-parks reduced crime and cut rates of depression, especially in low-income areas. VOA’s Steve Baragona went to have a look.
Explore what makes trees a vital part of cities, and how urban spaces throughout history have embraced the importance of trees. — By 2050, it’s estimated that over 65% of the world will be living in cities. We may think of nature as being unconnected to our urban spaces, but trees have always been an essential part of successful cities. Humanity has been uncovering these arboreal benefits since the creation of our first cities thousands of years ago. So what makes trees so important to a city’s survival? Stefan Al explains.
When economist Raj Chetty and his Harvard colleagues consulted a “gold mine” of big data—many years of anonymized tax, census, and Social Security records—they realized they had discovered a way to trace the effect of neighborhoods on the life outcomes of children who grew up in them. Now they’re using their findings to create better opportunities for those in greatest need. This short film by Redglass Pictures is part of the series “From Research to Reward,” a collection of videos and articles examining the impact of scientific research on our lives. Learn more at www.nasonline.org/r2r.
