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Living on the Edge: Neighborhood Boundaries and the Spatial Dynamics of Violent Crime

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  • Joscha Legewie

    (Harvard University)

Abstract

Neighborhood boundaries are a defining aspect of highly segregated urban areas. Yet, few studies examine the particular challenges and spatial processes that occur at the bordering region between two neighborhoods. Extending the growing literature on spatial interdependence, this article argues that neighborhood boundaries—defined as sharp changes in the racial or socioeconomic composition of neighborhoods—are a salient feature of the spatial structure with implications for violent crime and other outcomes. Boundaries lack the social control and cohesion of adjacent homogeneous areas, are contested between groups provoking intergroup conflict, and create opportunities for criminal behavior. This article presents evidence linking racial neighborhood boundaries to increased violent crime. The findings illustrate the importance of neighborhood boundaries for our understanding of spatial dimensions of population dynamics above and beyond the characteristics of neighborhoods.

Suggested Citation

  • Joscha Legewie, 2018. "Living on the Edge: Neighborhood Boundaries and the Spatial Dynamics of Violent Crime," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(5), pages 1957-1977, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:55:y:2018:i:5:d:10.1007_s13524-018-0708-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-018-0708-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. G. M. Jacquez & S. Maruca & M.-J. Fortin, 2000. "From fields to objects: A review of geographic boundary analysis," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 221-241, September.
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    4. Shadish, William R. & Clark, M. H. & Steiner, Peter M., 2008. "Can Nonrandomized Experiments Yield Accurate Answers? A Randomized Experiment Comparing Random and Nonrandom Assignments," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103(484), pages 1334-1344.
    5. Luc Anselin, 2003. "Spatial Externalities, Spatial Multipliers, And Spatial Econometrics," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 26(2), pages 153-166, April.
    6. Matthew Blackwell & James Honaker & Gary King, 2017. "A Unified Approach to Measurement Error and Missing Data: Overview and Applications," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 46(3), pages 303-341, August.
    7. Legewie, Joscha, 2018. "Neighborhood Boundaries and Violent Crime. An Introduction to Boundary Detection Methods in R," SocArXiv jc78a, Center for Open Science.
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    Cited by:

    1. Folharini, Saulo de Oliveira & Melo, Silas Nogueira de & Ramos, Rafael Guimarães & Brown, J. Christopher, 2023. "Land use and green crime: Assessing the edge effect," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    2. Legewie, Joscha, 2018. "Neighborhood Boundaries and Violent Crime. An Introduction to Boundary Detection Methods in R," SocArXiv jc78a, Center for Open Science.

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