2024/01/01 by Nima Dahir, Jackelyn Hwang, Ang Yu · 1 voice
Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Crime Patterns and Interventions #Homelessness and Social Issues #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/23780231231223436
openalex publication_date 2024/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Visible signs of disorder serve as markers of difference across urban space. Sociological theory suggests that variation in collective social control efforts contributes to variation in physical disorder. However, how structural characteristics shape differences in informal social control remains underexplored because of limited data on disorder and social control. Using city service request data and a novel dataset drawing on Google Street View imagery and computer vision methods, the authors examine the neighborhood characteristics associated with propensities to request trash-related services across five large U.S. cities. The authors find that socioeconomically advantaged neighborhoods and those with fewer minority and foreign-born residents have higher propensities. However, an increase in White residents, but not necessarily an increase in high–socioeconomic status residents, is strongly associated with greater propensities. The authors argue that incoming White residents introduce unique dynamics of social control that are not necessarily collective, thereby affecting spatial inequality and power relations within their new neighborhoods.