Lab publication for new way to measure neighborhoods: Street egohoods

August 15, 2019 by

Defining “neighborhoods” is challenging for researchers. In prior research lab members Dr. Hipp and Dr. Adam Boessen proposed a novel measure, termed “egohoods”, that captures the area surrounding a particular block (based on straight-line distance). This new study extends this idea by explicitly incorporating the street network into the measure. This approach measures street egohoods based on the local street block, and then all adjacent streets. A second definition includes all street blocks one or two streets away from the focal block. We believe that these are plausible “neighborhoods” since residents can easily come into contact one or two street blocks away from their own street block. The approach is demonstrated using data for the Southern California region, we find that this measure of immigrant neighborhoods often exhibits a robust negative relationship with levels of crime.

You can access the article by Dr. Young-an Kim and Dr. John R. Hipp in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology entitled, “Street Egohood: A New Perspective of Measuring Neighborhood Based on Urban Streets.”

Get it here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10940-019-09410-3

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Filed Under: Egohoods, Featured, Featured Publications, Publications

Lab publication on new measure of immigrant neighborhoods

August 8, 2019 by

Studies typically measure immigrant neighborhoods based on the composition of the residential population. However, although ethnic businesses are an important component of immigrant neighborhoods, scholars often do not consider them when constructing measures of these neighborhoods. This study proposes a novel way to mesaure immigrant neighborhoods that combines information about the residential population, the presence of ethnic businesses, and the spatial distribution of these measures for creating what we term immigrant ethnic activity space (IEAS). Using data for the Southern California region, we find that this measure of immigrant neighborhoods often exhibits a robust negative relationship with levels of crime.

You can access the article by Dr. Young-an Kim, Dr. John R. Hipp, and Dr.  Charis Kubrin in the Journal of Criminal Justice entitled, “Where They Live and Go: Immigrant Ethnic Activity Space and Neighborhood Crime in Southern California.”

Get it here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235218303775

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Filed Under: Featured, Featured Publications, Publications

Lab publication on business survival and relocation

June 18, 2019 by

Although neighborhood crime levels can be impacted by the presence of businesses nearby, it is also the case that crime in the neighborhood can impact businesses. High levels of crime can reduce patronage of businesses, which can result in them going out of business, or choosing to relocate. This study uses rich annual data on businesses and crime events in the Southern California region over a number of years to explore how nearby crime events impact business decisions to go out of business, move, or even where to move. The study finds that in general, higher violent and property crime are significantly associated with both business failure and mobility, and that higher crime in a destination neighborhood reduces the likelihood that a business locates there. The study also presents findings specific to industries.

You can access the article by Dr. John R. Hipp, Seth Williams, Dr. Young-an Kim, and Dr. Jae Hong Kim in Social Science Research entitled, “Fight or Flight? Crime as a Driving Force in Business Failure and Business Mobility”.

Get it here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235218303775

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Filed Under: Publications

Lab publication on temporal crime patterns

May 22, 2019 by

Given that crime events exhibit both a spatial and a temporal pattern, this study explores whether certain social and physical environment characteristics have varying relationships with crime at different times of day. The study uses a flexible nonlinear parametric approach on a large sample of street segments (and surrounding spatial area) in Southern California. The study finds different temporal and spatial patterns for key measures. The presence of total employees in the surrounding area is associated with a reduced robbery risk during the daytime, but not at night. The risk of a robbery is elevated on a high retail segment on weekends during the daytime, and on high restaurant segments into the early evening on weekends. Furthermore, the presence of retail and restaurants in the surrounding area (evidence of shopping districts) was associated with elevated robbery risk in the afternoon and well into the evening.

You can access the article by Dr. John R. Hipp and Dr. Young-an Kim in Journal of Criminal Justice entitled, “Temporal and Spatial Dimensions of Robbery: Differences across Measures of the Physical and Social Environment”.

Get it here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235218303775

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Lab publication on third places and cohesion

May 22, 2019 by

Though Ray Oldenburg’s (1989) notion of “third places”, or places conducive to sociality outside of the realms of home and work, has received both scholarly and popular attention over the past several decades, many of the author’s central claims remain empirically untested. The present study considers the association between neighborhood third places, cohesion and neighbor interaction. Drawing on various literatures regarding interaction in public space and neighborhood use-value, we consider how the role of third places might vary according to neighborhood socioeconomic context. Using data from Wave I of the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Study (LAFANS) and data on third places from the point-based business data of ReferenceUSA, we test the effect of third places on cohesion and neighbor interaction across neighborhood poverty strata. We find support for the hypothesis that third places are associated with greater cohesion and neighbor interaction, and that neighbor interaction mediates the relationship between third places and cohesion in poor neighborhoods.

You can access the article by Seth A. Williams and Dr. John R. Hipp in Social Science Research entitled, “How Great and How Good?: Third places, neighbor interaction, and cohesion in the neighborhood context”.

Get it here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X17310116

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Filed Under: Featured, Publications