Forget Broken Windows: Think "Busy Streets"
"Neighborhoods struggling with physical decline and high crime often
become safer simply when local residents work together to fix up their
neighborhood.
...Research from cities across the United States shows how small changes to
urban environments—like planting flowers or adding benches—reduce
violence.
The result is an emerging crime prevention theory we call 'busy streets.'
Busy streets flips the logic of the broken windows theory—a controversial criminological approach to public safety—on
its head. Broken windows defenders see urban disorder in U.S.
cities—graffiti, litter, actual broken windows, and the like—as a
catalyst of antisocial behavior. So they direct police to crack down on minor offenses like vandalism, turnstile jumping, and public drinking.
Proponents
of busy streets theory, on the other hand, believe it’s better for
neighborhoods to clean up and maintain their own city streets."
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