Land Use Features, Informal Social Control and Crime: A Longitudinal Study of Neighborhood Dynamics

• In Event: Land Use Change and Neighborhood Change: Consequences for Disorder and Disorganization

Abstract

With the recent availability of land use and census data at a fine spatial granularity, studies reveal important cross-sectional relationships between the physical features of the neighborhood and crime. While this research offers important advances, we do not know if changing land use patterns influence mechanisms of informal social control and how this in turn influences crime across time. In this paper we spatially integrate longitudinal data from the census, topographic databases, the Australian Community Capacity Study and the Queensland Police Service for 148 neighborhoods in Australia. We focus our analyses on four categories of land use features: social conduits, crime generators and crime attractors and social wedges. Using multilevel models, and controlling for the sociodemographic context of the neighborhood, we examine whether and how changes in these land use features influence informal social control and violent crime over time.

Authors

• Rebecca Wickes, Monash University

• Renee Zahnow, The Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland

• Anthony Kimpton, The University of Queensland

• Jonathan Corcoran, The University of Queensland

• John R Hipp, University of California, Irvine