Theorizing Urban Neighborhood: Mapping the Social Construct and Space Configuration on Street Crime Victimization

• In Event: Spatial Theory and Measurement

Abstract

There are increasing debates over whether street-level and community-level crime is entirely due to the effects of social forces. In this article, we review important spatial science and social science scholarships that bring development to our understanding of the dynamics of crime in different spatial levels. Using the data from the city of Chicago, we systematically measure the street networks and inter-community networks using spatial-cognitive cartographical techniques. We draw separate models to examine the effects of micro-level and macro-level social factors in the variation in criminogenic exposure. To study street-level networks and the neighborhood-level networks (which include streets) and inter/intralevel interactions, we employ the multilevel mixed-methods negative binomial model. We believe our work provides insights in resolving the theoretical mismatch and the incompatibility of methodology in the scholarship between space sciences and social sciences, which advances the evaluation the spatial stratification and criminogenic risk for individuals and communities.

Author

• Zhihang Dong, University of Washington