Removing any sort of critical analysis from this issue, Newman et al. The long-standing strength of these studies cannot be understated, as there have been 30 years of policy development centered on eliminating blight in order to positively impact the lives of surrounding residents.īypassing any criminological or health understanding, a market-based rationale attempts to explain the seemingly neutral economic policies that contribute to the problem of vacancy. This research intersects with the crime and disorder understanding to suggest that minor lack of care and disorder can result in significant harm to one’s body, up to and including death.
Urban blight definition trial#
For example, one study that stands out used a randomized control trial in Philadelphia, PA and found that “remediating vacant land with inexpensive, scalable methods, including greening or minimal mowing and trash cleanup, significantly reduced shootings that result in serious injury or death” (Moyer et al., 2018, p. This state, in turn, discourages residents in the neighbourhood to properly maintain physical appearances, or care for vacant properties.
Vacancy is thought to promote chronic stress, as well as encourage maladaptive physiologic responses, such as risky behaviour and reading resident social interaction (see Garvin et al., 2012, for complete citation list). Similarly, the public health sector has done extensive studies that link vacant buildings with poor health outcomes (both physical and mental). It has come under fire for becoming a rationale for zero tolerance policing in many communities where these traits are found Dixon, 1998 Innes, 1999 Wolff & Intravia, 2019.) (It’s important to note that this theory has been the subject of debate as its empirical tests do not always hold up. This unsightliness contributes to a decrease in pride of the neighbourhood, the loss of property taxes, and the lack of proper maintenance leading to hazards, crime and disorderly behaviour. The presence of blight via unkempt vacant buildings is one of these indicators and is thought to signal that a neighbourhood is vulnerable to criminal activity. One ‘broken window’ can lead to the downward spiral of an entire neighbourhood. These signs of neglect are thought to potentially cause residents to withdraw from neighbourhood life, as they are unwilling or unable to control their environment around them.
Urban blight definition windows#
According to criminologists, vacant buildings are a sign of physical disorder as visual cues in the built environment that signal the property or neighbourhood is uncared for (also known as the “Broken Windows Theory” popularized by Kelling & Wilson in the 1980s). All three of these sectors profoundly affect the way that we think about this problem. The question I have is – are these policy outcomes inevitable? Or can we, the average citizens, push our municipalities for better, more community-centered outcomes?Ī lot of the research on vacant buildings emerges from the criminology, public health and economic disciplines, all suggesting that vacant buildings are bad for cities. This vague definition with negative images associated with it serves to bolster specific policy outcomes, namely eradication and erasure, as blight is seen as an unsightly, unwanted problem with the main solutions being market-driven remediation (Herscher, 2020, Gordon, 2004). It’s been adopted into urban environments to refer to run down, dilapidated, unsafe, and uninhabitable buildings that are vacant for a long period of time.īy calling vacant buildings ‘blight,’ it triggers an image of disease, cancer, etc.
The word ‘blight’ actually comes from the botanical field to describe plant disease, typically one caused by fungi.
The urban problem of blight is seemingly large and nebulous, with complex causes and solutions.
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