The Broken Windows theory suggests that a high concentration of small, petty crimes leads to a higher incidence of bigger, nastier crimes. Some European cities run counter to that premise, according to this piece from Next American City.
Ben Adler looks at Berlin and Copenhagen and finds the crime trends don't match the idea behind Broken Windows.
"Increasingly, criminologists are challenging Broken Windows' hegemonic grasp on urban public policy. My travels in Europe have convinced me, once a Broken Windows believer, that it is largely a lot of hokum. Let the pot dealers return to Washington Square Park, the graffiti sit indefinitely on the mailboxes, the hookers wander Times Square, and I'm not at all sure you'd see an increase in violent crime as a result.
Berlin, Germany, a city of 3.4 million, is rife with symbols of social disorder. Sitting at a bar's outdoor table you're liable to smell hash wafting over from the table next to you, and to be offered it while walking through some of the city's parks. Prostitution is legal. If there are any open container laws, they are completely unenforced. Beer is drunk openly on the streets and the metro.
And yet there is very little crime."
FULL STORY: Does Berlin Disprove Broken Windows?
Will Developing Nations Drive/Follow in our Faulted Footsteps?
The growth in hybrid car sales is a welcome sign that a major change in the automobile industry is afoot. The shift to transport infrastructure that is not based on the archaic complexity of an internal combustion engine, with its hundreds of moving parts and compressed fuel explosions, has been long put off by an automobile industry, happy with status quo, partnered with oil cartels with the power to price their product as if it were in endless supply. But with smack-in-the-face-reality fuel prices last summer, the collapse of the so-called “Big Three” over the winter, and the simultaneous heralding assertion of alternative energy technologies (Daimler AG bought a 10% stake in Tesla Motors last month!), the fallout of western economic near-collapse has changed everything we’ve known to be sacrosanct; Leonard Lopate even waxed nostalgic about the “Death of the Car Song” yesterday on National Public Radio’s local station, WNYC.
Did Brookings Get It Wrong?
A recent Brookings study on the 2020 homicide wave tells a simple story: unemployment plus closed schools plus guns equals crime. But is the story accurate?
The Link Between Urban Design and Crime
A meta-study shows that public realm interventions can help reduce crime rates.
Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.
National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.
Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.
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Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.
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