Johansen, Neal, & Gasteyer, 2014
This paper explores how members of a neighborhood association in a post-industrial blighted community in Flint, Michigan are working to reduce disorder conditions in their neighborhood. We seek to understand how members are impacted by disorder, what they perceive to be the cause of disorder, and how they respond to disorder conditions. We argue that a disordered physical environment characterised by abandoned buildings and neglected properties is viewed by association members as giving rise to fear and incidences of crime and the impression of the loss of social control by formal authorities. As a result, association members focus their attention on interventions specifically geared toward controlling environmental factors such as neighborhood greenspace. Our findings suggest that residents are deeply and negatively impacted by the presence of disorder, and that they view such neighborhood greening initiatives as an effective way to mobilise neighborhood residents against disorder-producing conditions.
