scholarly journals The Effect of the Physical Environment on Crime Rates: Capturing Housing Age and Housing Type at Varying Spatial Scales

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (11) ◽  
pp. 1570-1595 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Hipp ◽  
Young-An Kim ◽  
Kevin Kane
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Physical Disorder ◽  
Housing Type ◽  
Age Diversity ◽  
Crime Types ◽  
Housing Age ◽  
Apartment Complexes ◽  
Street Segments

This study introduces filtering theory from housing economics to criminology and measures the age of housing as a proxy for deterioration and physical disorder. Using data for Los Angeles County in 2009 to 2011, negative binomial regression models are estimated and find that street segments with older housing have higher levels of all six crime types tested. Street segments with more housing age diversity have higher levels of all crime types, whereas housing age diversity in the surrounding ½-mile area is associated with lower levels of crime. Street segments with detached single-family units generally had less crime compared with other types of housing. Street segments with large apartment complexes (five or more units) generally have more crime than those with small apartment complexes and duplexes.

Revisiting the Crime Control Benefits of Voluntary Organizations: Organizational Presence, Organizational Capacity, and Crime Rates in Los Angeles Neighborhoods

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 916-940 ◽  
Author(s):  
James C. Wo
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Organizational Capacity ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
Crime Rates ◽  
Voluntary Organizations ◽  
Crime Types ◽  
Independent Effects

This study examines the independent effects that the number of voluntary organizations and the total amount of income they possess have on neighborhood crime, over time. Drawing upon a sample of Los Angeles census blocks from 2000 to 2010, I utilize fixed-effects negative binomial regression to estimate crime models. The number of voluntary organizations and the total amount of income they possess in the focal block, respectively, are not related to most crime types the following year. Yet, both aspects of voluntary organizations exhibit crime-reducing influences when accounting for their broader spatial impact, and controlling for numerous factors that have been shown to be associated with crime rates. The implications for communities and crime research are discussed.

Crime Diversity: Reexamining Crime Richness Across Spatial Scales

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 312-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore S. Lentz
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Original Study ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Units Of Analysis ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Crime Types ◽  
Crime Classification

Although much of the crime and place literature seeks to explain crime frequency in relation to environmental conditions, few studies have examined crime diversity in space. This article reexamines a study of crime diversity in relation to a neutral model assuming environmental conditions have minimal influence on crime patterns. The original study results show that the variety of crime types in a given area (i.e., crime richness) increases regularly across spatial scales, and is largely consistent with a neutral or random process. This conclusion makes no appeal to the crime-environment dependencies often believed to influence crime occurrence, making the study a worthy candidate for additional scrutiny. The current study first verifies the original study results in Los Angeles, CA, and demonstrates their robustness with alternative crime classification schemes. Next, two alternative methods are used to check whether results differ when (a) locations are sampled randomly from the entire city rather than observed crime locations, and (b) when the unit of analysis is grid cells rather than “point-buffers.” Finally, all analyses are replicated in St. Louis, MO, as a first look at generalizability. Conclusions are largely consistent with the original study, but important differences arise when alternative sampling techniques and units of analysis are used. Future directions for crime diversity research are discussed.

Neighborhood Walkability and Crime: Does the Relationship Vary by Crime Type?

2020 ◽  
pp. 001391652092184
Author(s):  
Narae Lee ◽  
Christopher Contreras
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
Crime Patterns ◽  
Linear Effect ◽  
Neighborhood Walkability ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Walk Score ◽  
Crime Types

We draw on theoretical insights from criminology in using the Walk Score index to analyze walkability’s relationship to spatial crime patterns on Los Angeles city blocks. Results from our first set of negative binomial regression models show that walkability had an especially strong linear effect on robbery rates: a 24% increase in the robbery rate accompanied a 10-point increase in Walk Score on a block, controlling for the effects of local businesses and sociodemographic characteristics. Our second set of models reveals that walkability exerted variable nonlinear influences on spatial crime patterns. Our final set of models suggests that the walkability–crime relationship might depend on neighborhood social organization: When walkability is high, low-income blocks might experience sharp rises in rates of predatory violence as compared with more advantaged blocks. This research highlights the importance of considering the mechanisms involved in walkability’s impact on the spatial distribution of individual crime types.

Hate Crime and Place: The Spatial and Temporal Concentration of Bias-Motivated Crime in Washington, D.C.

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052098781
Author(s):  
Marin R. Wenger ◽  
Brendan Lantz
Keyword(s):  
Hate Crime ◽  
Hate Crimes ◽  
Temporal Perspective ◽  
Spatial Stability ◽  
Units Of Analysis ◽  
Crime Types ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Block Groups ◽  
Street Segments

Prior research suggests that many crime types are spatially concentrated and stable over time. Hate crime, however, is a unique crime type that is etiologically distinct from others. As such, examination of hate crime from a spatial and temporal perspective offers an opportunity to understand hate crime and the spatial concentration of crime more generally. The current study examines the spatial stability of hate crimes reported to the police in Washington, D.C., from 2012 through 2018 using street segments, intersections, and block groups as units of analysis. Findings reveal that hate crime is spatially concentrated, with less than 4% of street segments and intersections experiencing hate crime over the study period. Results reveal a high degree of spatial stability, both year-to-year and over the long term even when restricting the analysis to units that experienced at least one hate crime.

Contextualizing from Within: Perceptions of Physical Disorder in a South Central L.A. African American Mosque

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 214-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela J. Prickett
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Social Disorganization ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Physical Disorder ◽  
Broken Windows ◽  
Physical Conditions ◽  
Physical Problems ◽  
South Central ◽  
South Central Los Angeles

Physical disorder is fundamental to how urban sociologists understand the inner workings of a neighborhood. This article takes advantage of ethnographic and historical research to understand how, over time, participants in an urban mosque in South Central Los Angeles develop patterns of meaning–making and decision–making about physical disorder. I examine how specific negative physical conditions on the property came to exist as well as the varied processes by which they changed—both improving and worsening—over the community's long history. Contrary to dominant “social disorganization” and “broken windows” theories that argue disorder is always a destructive force, I find that members saw specific signs of physical disorder as links to their collective past as well as placeholders for a future they hoped to construct. I then analyze how these shared imaginings shaped the ways members responded to physical problems in the present. The strength of this “contextualizing from within” approach is that attention to context and period allows researchers to better theorize why communities may or may not organize to repair physical disorder.

scholarly journals The Impacts of Large Natural Hazards on Neighborhood Diversity

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-78
Author(s):  
Dalbyul Lee
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Longitudinal Data Analysis ◽  
Severe Damage ◽  
Housing Type ◽  
Financial Independence ◽  
Age Diversity ◽  
Neighborhood Diversity ◽  
National Statistical Office ◽  
Post Disaster

This study analyzes the impacts of natural hazards on neighborhoods, focusing on their age and housing type diversity. It estimates how the diversity of neighborhoods having experienced large natural hazards since 2005 changed between 1995 and 2015, as compared to neighborhoods without such experiences. "Neighborhood" was defined as a census tract of the National Statistical Office, and longitudinal data analysis was used to clarify the differences in natural hazards' impacts according to the characteristics (damage intensity and financial independence) of the neighborhoods. The results of the analyses are as follows: First, age and housing type diversity decrease immediately in the aftermath of large natural hazards but tend to recover quickly. Second, the impacts differ in accordance with the neighborhood's characteristics. Age diversity in neighborhoods with severe damage tends to decrease sharply but increases rapidly during recovery. In neighborhoods with high levels of financial independence, age diversity tends to increase, while housing type diversity tends to decrease, and post-disaster growth rates tend to be reversed.

scholarly journals Inferring macro-ecological patterns from local species' occurrences

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Tovo ◽  
Marco Formentin ◽  
Samir Suweis ◽  
Samuele Stivanello ◽  
Sandro Azaele ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Invariance Property ◽  
Practical Reasons ◽  
Conservation Practice ◽  
Unique Framework ◽  
Using Data

Biodiversity provides support for life, vital provisions, regulating services and has positive cultural impacts. It is therefore important to have accurate methods to measure biodiversity, in order to safeguard it when we discover it to be threatened. For practical reasons, biodiversity is usually measured at fine scales whereas diversity issues (e.g. conservation) interest regional or global scales. Moreover, biodiversity may change across spatial scales. It is therefore a key challenge to be able to translate local information on biodiversity into global patterns. Many databases give no information about the abundances of a species within an area, but only its occurrence in each of the surveyed plots. In this paper, we introduce an analytical framework to infer species richness and abundances at large spatial scales in biodiversity-rich ecosystems when species presence/absence information is available on various scattered samples (i.e. upscaling). This framework is based on the scale-invariance property of the negative binomial. Our approach allows to infer and link within a unique framework important and well-known biodiversity patterns of ecological theory, such as the Species Accumulation Curve (SAC) and the Relative Species Abundance (RSA) as well as a new emergent pattern, which is the Relative Species Occupancy (RSO). Our estimates are robust and accurate, as confirmed by tests performed on both in silico-generated and real forests. We demonstrate the accuracy of our predictions using data from two well-studied forest stands. Moreover, we compared our results with other popular methods proposed in the literature to infer species richness from presence-absence data and we showed that our framework gives better estimates. It has thus important applications to biodiversity research and conservation practice.

scholarly journals Assessing a low-cost methane sensor quantification system for use in complex rural and urban environments

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Collier-Oxandale ◽  
Michael P. Hannigan ◽  
Joanna Gordon Casey ◽  
Ricardo Piedrahita ◽  
John Ortega ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Complex Mixture ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Monitoring Networks ◽  
Linear Calibration ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales

Abstract. Low-cost sensors have the potential to facilitate the exploration of air quality issues on new temporal and spatial scales. Here we evaluate a low-cost sensor quantification system for methane through its use in two different deployments. The first, a one-month deployment along the Colorado Front Range includes sites near active oil and gas operations in the Denver-Julesberg basin. The second deployment in an urban Los Angeles neighborhood, an subject to complex mixture of air pollution sources including oil operations. Given its role as a potent greenhouse gas, new low-cost methods for detecting and monitoring methane may aid in protecting human and environmental health. In this paper, we assess a number of linear calibration models to convert raw sensor signals into ppm concentration values. We also examine different choices that can be made during calibration and data processing, and explore cross-sensitivities that impact this sensor type. The results illustrate the accuracy of the Figaro TGS 2600 sensor when methane is quantified from raw signals using the techniques described. The results also demonstrate the value of these tools for examining air quality trends and events on small spatial and temporal scales as well as their ability to characterize an area – highlighting their potential to provide preliminary data that can inform more targeted measurements or supplement existing monitoring networks.

Methane Source Finder: A web-based data portal for exploring methane data

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Thorpe ◽  
Riley Duren ◽  
Robert Tapella ◽  
Brian Bue ◽  
Kelsey Foster ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Point Source ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Methane Flux ◽  
The State ◽  
Tracer Transport ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Methane Source ◽  
Data Portal ◽  
State And Local

<p>The Methane Source Finder is a web-based data portal developed under NASA’s CMS and ACCESS programs for exploring methane data in the state of California. This open access interactive map allows users to discover, analyze, and download data across a range of spatial scales derived from remote-sensing, surface monitoring, and bottom-up infrastructure information. This includes methane plume images and associated emission estimates derived from the 2016-2018 California Methane Survey using the airborne imaging spectrometer AVIRIS-NG. The fine spatial resolution (typically 3 m) AVIRIS-NG products when combined with the Vista infrastructure database of over 270,000 components statewide permits direct attribution of emissions to individual point source locations. These point source products have benefited from evaluation and feedback from state and local agencies and private sector companies and in some cases were used to directly guide leak detection and repair efforts. Additional data layers at local and regional scales provide context for point source emissions. These include methane flux inversions for the Los Angeles basin derived from surface observations and tracer transport modeling (3 km, 4 day resolution) as well as the CMS US methane gridded inventory (10 km, monthly resolution) over the state of California.</p>

scholarly journals Measurements to determine mixing state of black carbon emitted from the 2017/2018 California wildfires and urban Los Angeles

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Ko ◽  
Trevor Krasowsky ◽  
George Ban-Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Sampling Location ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Mixing State ◽  
Los Angeles Basin ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Urban Emissions

Abstract. The effects of atmospheric black carbon (BC) on climate and public health have been well established, but large uncertainties remain regarding the extent of BC’s impacts at different temporal and spatial scales. These uncertainties are largely due to BC’s heterogeneous nature in terms of its spatiotemporal distribution, mixing state, and coating properties. Here, we seek to further understand the mixing state evolution of BC emitted from various sources and aged over different timescales using field measurements in the Los Angeles region. We measured refractory black carbon (rBC) with a single-particle soot photometer (SP2) on Catalina Island, California (~ 70 km southwest of downtown Los Angeles) during three different time periods. During the first campaign (September 2017), westerly winds dominated and thus the sampling location was upwind of the dominant regional sources of BC (i.e., urban emissions from the Los Angeles basin). In the second and third campaigns (December 2017, November 2018), atypical wind conditions caused measured rBC to include important contributions from large wildfires in California and urban emission from the Los Angeles basin. We observed a larger number fraction of thickly coated particles (fBC) and increased coating thickness (CTBC) during the first campaign (~ 0.27 and ~ 36 nm, respectively), and during portions of the third campaign when we suspect that rBC was transported long-range from the Camp Fire in Northern California (~ 0.35 and ~ 52 nm, respectively), compared to other time periods. In contrast, during periods when we suspect that measured rBC was dominated by Southern California fires or urban emissions, both fBC and CTBC were significantly lower, with a mean fBC of ~ 0.03 and median CTBC ranging from ~ 0 to 10 nm. From our rBC measurements and meteorological analyses, we conclude that an aging timescale on the order of ~ hours is not long enough for rBC to become thickly coated under the range of sources sampled and atmospheric conditions during this campaign. On average, we found that measured rBC had to age more than a day to become thickly-coated. Aging timescales for developing thick coatings were found to be longer in this study relative to a number of previous observational studies conducted with an SP2, suggesting that rBC aging is heavily impacted by regional atmospheric context.

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