Objective: Until recently few studies have examined the relationship between home foreclosures and crime. Foreclosures are one major source of neighborhood instability and can be expected to affect crime from several theoretical perspectives. Some recent research has found conflicting results on whether foreclosures cause crime. Method: This study examines whether foreclosures are a robust predictor of crime and whether the effect of foreclosures on crime varies across neighborhood contexts. We estimate fixed effects negative binomial models using geocoded Indianapolis foreclosure and crime data for 2003 to 2008 to predict crime counts in 1,000-feet X 1,000-feet square grid cells. Result: Foreclosures exhibit consistent positive effects on indices of overall, property, and violent UCR reported offenses in a cell and rape, aggravated assault, and burglary counts. In addition, foreclosures had greater effects on reported UCR crimes in stable neighborhoods, especially those with more owner-occupied homes. Conclusion: Foreclosures were a robust predictor of crime in the current study.
ABSTRACT. This paper measures the benefits of the urban forest by examining its effect on housing prices. A Geographic Information System is used to develop a measure of the urban forest, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, from satellite imagery and to construct other variables from a variety of sources. Spatial hedonic housing price models for the Indianapolis/Marion County area are estimated. The models indicate that greener vegetation around a property has a positive, significant effect on housing price, holding everything else constant. This effect is dominated by measures at the neighborhood level. These findings indicate that property owners value the urban forest, at least in part, by the premium they pay to live in neighborhoods with greener, denser vegetation. These findings also indicate that public action to maintain and enhance the urban forest may be warranted. Planners and urban foresters can use these findings to inform public and policy debates over urban forestry programs and proposals.
One important factor in many macro-level theories of crime is income inequality. Although research generally shows that low levels of neighborhood income are associated with crime, research studies have been less clear on whether income inequality is a robust, independent predictor of crime, particularly in small area studies and few studies have explicitly considered income inequality between neighborhoods, and those that do typically focus on homicide. The current study examines whether within and between-neighborhood income inequality is associated with variation in violent and property crime. We employ geocoded Uniform Crime Report data from the Indianapolis police department and economic and demographic characteristics of the population from the American Community Survey for 2005 to 2009. Consistent with prior research, lower levels of income were associated with higher violent and property crime counts. Within-tract income inequality was also associated with higher UCR violent and property crimes in most models. Results also showed that the ratio of tract income levels to neighboring tracts is associated with variation in crime. Thus, both local and nearby income inequality affect crime. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.
Abstract:This paper examines the value residents place on public parks in a mid-sized urban area. The analysis makes a direct contribution to the literature by examining the extent to which spatial and neighborhood context is related to the house price premium or discount associated with public recreational opportunities, natural resource areas, and urban greenways. The analysis shows that the value of public parks and greenways varies across space, neighborhood context, and park type. Community area fixedeffects are included to bolster the findings. The findings indicate that park and greenway investment should be planned and managed contextually in urban areas. Park planners can use these findings to inform public policy debates over park investment and, perhaps, support efforts focused on comprehensive neighborhood planning.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.