Neighborhood Revitalization and Disorder in Salt Lake City, Utah, 1993-2000 (ICPSR 3261)

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Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

This project examined physical incivilities (disorder), social strengths and vulnerabilities, and police reports in a declining first-ring suburb of Salt Lake City. Physical and social conditions were assessed on residential face blocks surrounding a new subdivision that was built as a revitalization effort. Data were collected before and after the completion of the new subdivision to assess the effects of the subdivision and of more proximal social and physical conditions on residents' blocks in order to understand important revitalization outcomes of crime, fear, and housing satisfaction and conditions. The study also highlighted place attachment of residents as a psychological strength that deserved greater attention. The study sought to answer the following questions: (1) What did residents think of the new subdivision before it was built? (2) What kinds of people moved into the new 84-unit subdivision? (3) Are its residents likely to help larger revitalization efforts, or will they become an enclave, insulated from the surrounding neighborhood? (4) What factors predict crime reports prior to or after construction? (5) What factors predict fear after the construction of new houses? (6) What factors predict property maintenance and improvements, home satisfaction, and place attachment? (7) In what ways are residents' levels of concern over crime, views on housing revitalization, confidence in the neighborhood, place attachment, social cohesion, and collective efficacy related?

Study Design View help for Study Design

The research site consisted of a neighborhood located on the near west side of Salt Lake City that had been experiencing gradual decline. The neighborhood surrounded a new 84-unit single family detached housing subdivision, which was built in 1995 with money from a HUD demonstration grant. The study began in 1993 with a systematic observational assessment of crime and fear-related physical features on 59 blocks of the older neighborhood surrounding the planned housing site and 8 sampled addresses on each block, followed by interviews with surrounding block residents during 1994-1995, interviews with residents in the newly built housing in 1997, and interviews and physical condition assessments on the same surrounding blocks in 1998-1999. Police crime report and city building permit data were collected and matched to sample addresses. This study used the Revised Block Environmental Inventory (RBEI) to objectively measure the physical environment of the residential blocks. The procedure involved in-person observations by trained raters of a variety of residential and nonresidential physical cues associated with crime, fear, and indicators of residential vitality or decline. Most Time 1 environmental observations were made in April and May of 1993. For Time 2, environmental observations were made from August to September, 1998, after the new subdivision had been built. A 30-minute survey was conducted at both Time 1 (1994-1995) and Time 2 (1998-1999) using Spanish or English versions, depending upon respondent preference. Surveys were administered by telephone if a phone number was available, in-person if not. At both Time 1 and Time 2, approximately half of the interviews were administered by telephone and half in-person. Respondents were not compensated at Time 1, but were given $25 for participating at Time 2. In addition, 16 interviews were completed by mail with added incentive ($50.00) for the return of completed questionnaires. The observational data were combined with the data from both survey waves into one data file. The data file for Part 1 is organized so that the Time 1 and Time 2 survey variables are on the same row for each respondent, while the data file for Part 2 is structured so that the data for Time 1 and Time 2 are in the same column. For Part 3, interviews were conducted with the residents in the intervention site, the new neighborhood, in 1997. Police report data were collected from the time of the interview to 9 months after the Time 1 interviews were completed, and 12 months after Time 2 interviews were completed. A database on citywide building permits issued from January 1993 through September 2000 was supplied by the city. After excluding permits outside the defined study area, each permit was coded based on street address as on, near (within two blocks), or far from (beyond two blocks) the closest sampled block number.

Sample View help for Sample

Parts 1 and 2: Random sampling. Part 3: Not applicable.

Universe View help for Universe

Households in two adjacent neighborhoods located on the near west side of Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

Variables in Parts 1 and 2, Environmental and Survey Data for Older Subdivision, focus on distance of respondent's home to the subdivision, psychological proximity to the subdivision, if new housing was in the respondent's neighborhood, nonresidential properties on the block, physical incivilities, self-reported past victimization, fear of crime, place attachment, collective efficacy (neighboring, participation, social control, sense of community), rating of neighborhood qualities, whether block neighbors had improved property, community confidence, perceived block crime problems, observed conditions, self-reported home repairs and improvements, building permits, and home satisfaction. Demographic variables for Parts 1 and 2 include income, home ownership, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, marital status, if the resident lived in a house, household size, number of children in the household, and length of residence. Variables in Part 3, Environmental and Survey Data for Intervention Site, include neighborhood qualities and convenience, whether the respondent's children would attend a local school, and variables similar to those in Parts 1 and 2. Demographic variables in Part 3 specify the year the respondent moved in, number of children in the household, race and ethnicity, marital status, religion, sex, and income in 1996.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

At Time 1 (1994-1995), at least five residents were interviewed on most blocks (one block had three interviews and three had four interviews), for a total of 357 interviews, representing a 72.71 percent response rate. At Time 2 (1998-1999), at least 7 interviews were completed per block, yielding 617 interviews. For the entire Time-2 study, of 930 initial contacts for interviews, 13.65 percent refused and 16.76 percent were unresolved (no one at home after eight or more contact attempts, or no English or Spanish spoken, or unintentional repeats at the same address). Thus, 84.2 percent of English or Spanish speakers contacted provided interviews, whereas 66.49 percent of all addresses contacted yielded interviews.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

Several Likert-type scales were used. The neighboring scale (NBOR1-4) was based on Brown and Werner (1985) and Perkins et al. (1990), which were expansions of Ahlbrandt and Dunningham's (1984) scale. The perceived incivilities and crime problems scale was based partly on Perkins, Meeks and Taylor (1993), but with items from other neighborhood problems scales added. The community confidence scale was based on Varady (1986). The fear of crime and block safety scales, and worry and avoidance items were taken from Perkins and Taylor (1996). Place attachment items were from Brown and Werner (1985) and Ahlbrandt and Cunningham (1984). The victimization scale is a very brief version adapted from the National Crime Survey. The repairs and upgrading scale was taken from Ginsberg (1982).

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Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2002-03-01

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