1932
0
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Annual Review of Criminology
  4. Volume 3, 2020
  5. Article

Annual Review of Criminology

Volume 3, 2020

Gentrification, Land Use, and Crime

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, many US cities have seen urban revitalization and population changes associated with an increased desire for urban living among the affluent. As inner-city neighborhoods become gentrified, they are more likely to witness the construction of new buildings and homes, the conversion of industrial spaces to mixed-used developments, expanded access to mass transit, and the arrival of coffee shops and other urban amenities. In this review, we take stock of what is known about the impact of gentrification and land-use changes on neighborhood crime. We summarize research conducted since the period of urban revitalization that started in the 1990s as well as studies that have a quasi-experimental design. We find that gentrification and associated changes to land use tend to reduce crime in neighborhoods. Our findings are tempered by the need for greater conceptual clarity on how to measure when a neighborhood has gentrified and a clearer examination of the spatial displacement of crime. We conclude with a discussion on the need for criminologists to partner with urban planners to study how changes in the land use of cities can be made to generate crime reductions that benefit all places and, finally, detail some promising directions for future research.

Keyword(s): crime, gentrification, land use, population change
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011419-041505
2020-01-13
2024-04-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/criminol/3/1/annurev-criminol-011419-041505.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011419-041505&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Aliprantis D, Hartley D. 2015. Blowing it up and knocking it down: the local and city-wide effects of demolishing high concentration public housing on crime. J. Urban Econ. 88:67–81
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Anderson JM, MacDonald JM, Bluthenthal R, Ashwood JS 2013. Reducing crime by shaping the built environment with zoning: an empirical study of Los Angeles. Univ. Pa. Law Rev. 161:3699–756
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Atkinson R. 2003. Introduction: misunderstood saviour or vengeful wrecker? The many meanings and problems of gentrification. Urban Stud 40:122343–50
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Autor DH, Palmer CJ, Pathak PA 2014. Housing market spillovers: evidence for the end of rent control in Cambridge, Massachusetts. J. Political Econ. 122:3661–717
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Autor DH, Palmer CJ, Pathak PA 2017. Gentrification and the amenity value of crime reductions: evidence from rent deregulation NBER Work. Pap 23914
  6. Autor DH, Palmer CJ, Pathak PA 2019. Ending rent control reduced crime in Cambridge. AEA Pap. Proc. 109:381–84
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Barton MS. 2016. Gentrification and violent crime in New York City. Crime Delinquency 62:91180–202
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Billings SB. 2011. Estimating the value of a new transit option. Reg. Sci. Urban Econ. 41:6525–36
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Billings SB, Leland S, Swindell D 2011. The effects of the announcement and opening of light rail transit stations on neighborhood crime. J. Urban Aff. 33:5549–66
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Boggess LN, Hipp JR. 2016. The spatial dimensions of gentrification and the consequences for neighborhood crime. Justice Q 33:4584–613
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Bostic RW, Martin RW. 2003. Black home-owners as a gentrifying force? Neighbourhood dynamics in the context of minority home-ownership. Urban Stud 40:122427–49
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Branic N, Hipp JR. 2018. Growing pains or appreciable gains? Latent classes of neighborhood change, and consequences for crime in Southern California neighborhoods. Soc. Sci. Res. 76:77–91
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Brown-Saracino J. 2017. Explicating divided approaches to gentrification and growing income inequality. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 43:515–39
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Brown-Saracino J, Rumpf C. 2011. Diverse imageries of gentrification: evidence from newspaper coverage in seven U.S. cities, 1986–2006. J. Urban Aff. 33:3289–315
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Cerdá M, Morenoff JD, Hansen BB, Tessari Hicks KJ, Duque LF et al. 2012. Reducing violence by transforming neighborhoods: a natural experiment in Medellín, Colombia. Am. J. Epidemiol. 175:101045–53
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Cook PJ. 2009. Crime control in the city: a research-based briefing on public and private measures. Cityscape 11:153–79
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Covington J, Taylor RB. 1989. Gentrification and crime: robbery and larceny changes in appreciating Baltimore neighborhoods during the 1970s. Urban Aff. Q. 25:1142–72
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Davidson J. 2014. Is gentrification all bad?. New York Magazine Jan. 31. http://nymag.com/news/features/gentrification-2014-2/
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Ding L, Hwang J, Divringi E 2016. Gentrification and residential mobility in Philadelphia. Reg. Sci. Urban Econ. 61:38–51
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Economist 2018. In praise of gentrification. The Economist June 21. https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/06/21/in-praise-of-gentrification
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Ellen IG, Lens MC, O'Regan K 2012. American murder mystery revisited: Do housing voucher households cause crime. Hous. Policy Debate 22:4551–72
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Ellen IG, Mertens Horn K, Reed D 2017. Has falling crime invited gentrification? US Census Bur. Cent. Econ. Stud. Pap. CES-WP-17–27
  23. Ellen IG, O'Regan KM. 2011. How low income neighborhoods change: entry, exit, and enhancement. Reg. Sci. Urban Econ. 41:289–97
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Fishman R. 2005. Longer view: the fifth migration. J. Am. Plan. Assoc. 71:4357–66
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Freeman L. 2005. Displacement or succession? Residential mobility in gentrifying neighborhoods. Urban Aff. Rev. 40:4463–91
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Frey WH. 2015. New census data: selective city slowdowns and the city suburb growth gap. The Avenue May 21. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2015/05/21/new-census-data-selective-city-slowdowns-and-the-city-suburb-growth-gap/
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Glaeser E. 2011. Triumph of the City New York: Penguin
  28. Glaeser EL, Kim H, Luca M 2018. Nowcasting gentrification: using Yelp data to quantify neighborhood change. AEA Pap. Proc. 108:77–82
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Glaeser EL, Resseger M, Tobio K 2009. Inequality in cities. J. Regul. Sci. 49:4617–46
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Glaeser EL, Resseger M, Tobio K 2015. Urban inequality. Justice for All: Promoting Social Equity in Public Administration NJ Johnson, JH Svara 98–121 Abingdon, UK: Routledge
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Glass RL. 1964. London: Aspects of Change London: MacGibbon & Kee
  32. Gottdiener M, Feagin JR. 1998. A new paradigm shift in urban sociology. Urban Aff. Q. 24:2163–87
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Hackworth J. 2002. Postrecession gentrification in New York city. Urban Aff. Rev. 37:6815–43
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Hwang J. 2016. Pioneers of gentrification: transformation in global neighborhoods in urban America in the late twentieth century. Demography 53:1189–213
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Hwang J, Lin J. 2016. What have we learned about the causes of recent gentrification?. Cityscape 18:39–26
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Hwang J, Sampson RJ. 2014. Divergent pathways of gentrification: racial inequality and the social order of renewal in Chicago neighborhoods. Am. Sociol. Rev. 79:4726–51
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Hyra D. 2015. The back-to-the-city movement: neighbourhood redevelopment and processes of political and cultural displacement. Urban Stud 52:101753–73
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Ihlanfeldt KR. 2003. Rail transit and neighborhood crime: the case of Atlanta, Georgia. South. Econ. J. 70:2273–94
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Kirk DS, Laub JH. 2010. Neighborhood change and crime in the modern metropolis. Crime Justice 39:1441–502
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Kondo MC, Andreyeva E, South EC, MacDonald JM, Branas CC 2018. Neighborhood interventions to reduce violence. Annu. Rev. Public Health 39:253–71
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Kondo MC, Keene D, Hohl BC, MacDonald JM, Branas CC 2015. A difference-in-differences study of the effects of a new abandoned building remediation strategy on safety. PLOS ONE 10:7e0129582
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Kreager DA, Lyons CJ, Hays ZR 2011. Urban revitalization and Seattle crime, 1982−2000. Soc. Probl. 58:4615–39
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Lacoe J, Bostic RW, Acolin A 2018. Crime and private investment in urban neighborhoods. J. Urban Econ. 108:154–69
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Larson M, Xu Y, Ouellet L, Klahm CF 2019. Exploring the impact of 9398 demolitions on neighborhood-level crime in Detroit, Michigan. J. Crim. Justice 60:57–63
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Lee YY. 2010. Gentrification and crime: identification using the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles. J. Urban Aff. 32:5549–77
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Ley D. 1996. The New Middle Class and the Remaking of the Central City New York: Oxford Univ. Press
  47. Liggett R, Loukaitou-Sideris A, Iseki H 2003. Journey to crime: assessing the effects of a light rail line on crime in the neighborhoods. J. Public Transp. 6:385–115
     [Google Scholar]
  48. MacDonald J, Branas C, Stokes R 2019. Changing Places: The Science and Art of New Urban Planning Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press
  49. Martin IW, Beck K. 2018. Gentrification, property tax limitation, and displacement. Urban Aff. Rev. 54:133–73
     [Google Scholar]
  50. McDonald SC. 1986. Does gentrification affect crime rates. Crime Justice 8:163–201
     [Google Scholar]
  51. McKinnish T, Walsh R, White TK 2010. Who gentrifies low-income neighborhoods. J. Urban Econ. 67:2180–93
     [Google Scholar]
  52. NYC Health 2019. NYC sub-borough neighborhoods. NYC Health http://a816-dohbesp.nyc.gov/IndicatorPublic/EPHTPDF/subboro.pdf
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Ousey GC, Kubrin CE. 2018. Immigration and crime: assessing a contentious issue. Annu. Rev. Criminol. 1:63–84
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Papachristos AV, Smith CM, Schere ML, Fugiero MA 2011. More coffee, less crime? The relationship between gentrification and neighborhood crime rates in Chicago, 1991 to 2005. City Community 10:3215–40
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Park RE, Burgess EW. 2019. 1925. The City Chicago: Univ. Chic. Press
  56. Pope DG, Pope JC. 2012. Crime and property values: evidence from the 1990s crime drop. Reg. Sci. Urban Econ. 42:1–2177–88
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Quetelet A. 1984. 1831. Research on the Propensity for Crime at Different Ages transl. F Sawyer Cincinnati, OH: Anderson
  58. Ridgeway G, MacDonald JM. 2017. Effect of rail transit on crime: a study of Los Angeles from 1988 to 2014. J. Quant. Criminol. 33:2277–91
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Saez E, Zucman G. 2016. Wealth inequality in the United States since 1913: evidence from capitalized income tax data. Q. J. Econ. 131:2519–78
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Sampson RJ. 2012. Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect Chicago: Univ. Chic. Press
  61. Sampson RJ, Morenoff JD, Gannon-Rowley T 2002. Assessing “neighborhood effects”: social processes and new directions in research. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 28:443–78
     [Google Scholar]
  62. Sandler DH. 2017. Externalities of public housing: the effect of public housing demolitions on local crime. Reg. Sci. Urban Econ. 62:24–35
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Sharkey P. 2012. An alternative approach to addressing selection into and out of social settings: neighborhood change and African American children's economic outcomes. Sociol. Methods Res. 41:2251–93
     [Google Scholar]
  64. Shaw CR, McKay HD. 1972. Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas: A Study of Rates of Delinquency in Relation to Differential Characteristics of Local Communities in American Cities Chicago: Univ. Chic. Press. Rev. Ed
  65. Skogan W. 1986. Fear of crime and neighborhood change. Crime Justice 8:203–29
     [Google Scholar]
  66. Spader J, Schuetz J, Cortes A 2016. Fewer vacants, fewer crimes? Impacts of neighborhood revitalization policies on crime. Reg. Sci. Urban Econ. 60:73–84
     [Google Scholar]
  67. Tita GE, Petras TL, Greenbaum RT 2006. Crime and residential choice: a neighborhood level analysis of the impact of crime on housing prices. J. Quant. Criminol. 22:4299–317
     [Google Scholar]
  68. Twinam T. 2017. Danger zone: land use and the geography of neighborhood crime. J. Urban Econ. 100:104–19
     [Google Scholar]
  69. Van Wilsem J, Wittebrood K, De Graaf ND 2006. Socioeconomic dynamics of neighborhoods and the risk of crime victimization: a multilevel study of improving, declining, and stable areas in the Netherlands. Soc. Probl. 53:2226–47
     [Google Scholar]
  70. Velez MB, Lyons CJ, Boursaw B 2012. Neighborhood housing investments and violent crime in Seattle, 1981–2007. Criminology 50:41025–56
     [Google Scholar]
  71. Wheeler AP, Kim DY, Phillips SW 2018. The effect of housing demolitions on crime in Buffalo, New York. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 55:3390–424
     [Google Scholar]
  72. Wyly EK, Hammel DJ. 1998. Modeling the context and contingency of gentrification. J. Urban Aff. 20:3303–26
     [Google Scholar]
  73. Wyly EK, Hammel DJ. 1999. Islands of decay in seas of renewal: housing policy and the resurgence of gentrification. Hous. Policy Debate 10:4711–71
     [Google Scholar]
  74. Zuk M, Bierbaum AH, Chapple K, Gorska K, Loukaitou-Sideris A 2018. Gentrification, displacement, and the role of public investment. J. Plan. Lit. 33:131–44
     [Google Scholar]
  75. Zukin S. 1987. Gentrification: culture and capital in the urban core. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 13:129–47
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011419-041505
Loading
Gentrification, Land Use, and Crime
Annual Review of Criminology 3, 121 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011419-041505
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011419-041505
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011419-041505
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error