What's a house without foundation?

The last two weeks of my life have been extremely stressful. Multiple final papers and exams have left my brain jumbled and my living space reflects that. Laundry is not done, clothes are everywhere, dirty dishes have amounted, trash has accumulated, and home no longer feels like home, but simply a place to sleep. As I was thinking about my current state of mind and my correlating living space state, I think about the idea that, often, your environment is reflective of your mindset. And then I thought about the correlation between the appearance of neighborhoods and the mindsets of those who reside in them. Recently there was a study done through the University of Pennsylvania that showed that neighborhood cleanup showed an increase in perceived safety. The study discussed the idea that neighborhoods with more green space, that are kept up, reduced both stress and crime levels.

Image Credit: www.certaindoubt.net

This study coincides with Wilson and Kellig’s Broken Windows Theory which discusses the idea that, when referring to vandalism (although this theory has been generalized and applied to many different facets), maintaining good conditions and being a presence in urban environments may stop vandalism and prevent escalation of serious crime. They say,

If the first broken window in a building is not repaired, the people 

who like breaking windows will assume that no one cares about the 

building and more windows will be broken.Soon the building will 

have no windows.

Whereas, if you let one store be vandalized and turn a blind eye then it’s only a short amount of time before more and more stores are vandalized. It discussed perception in relation to security. One problem with this theory, however, was that although the perception of crime was down, there was a more visible police presence, and things started to look better, crime actually stayed the same.

So, then I think of Pittsburgh, to my neighborhood, and wonder if perception can trump reality. I question if we were to replace all of the “broken windows”: revitalize abandoned storefronts, utilized green space, cleaned up our parks, repaved our streets, cleared out the drug dealers from our corner, would that spark the change needed in my neighborhood?

I would like to think it would be a good start but then I go to the foundation- what is the heartbeat of our community? What would people take pride in? Would all of the aesthetics go to waste if we didn’t also fix our systems? Fix the root of what got us to these “broken windows” in the first place? For example, Pittsburgh has been rated #1 most livable city in the U.S. for a couple of years now, yet our public school system is about to go bankrupt and we have a racial achievement gap that will take 40 years to fix. Isn’t it a waste to fix the outside, if our systems which make up our foundation are going to collapse? I agree that perception is key; however, I don’t think it can be the sole solution.

What do you think? Does perception trump reality? Should it? If not, what other things do you think might be necessary for a neighborhood to revitalize itself? 

For more resources in addition to the ones included in this blog post, check out:

Assessing “Broken Windows”: A Brief Critique for an analysis that both summarizes and questions the Broken Windows Theory.

A+ Schools Report to the Community to find out what's going on in Pittsburgh Public Schools and to start thinking about how the Broken Windows Theory can be applied there as well.

Community gardening, neighborhood meetings, and social capital which is a study that not only looks at the correlation between ones involvement in gardening/beautification meeting and perceptions but it also brings social capital into the picture.