Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Why Clean Up a Neighborhood You Hate?

Ohio State University has been asking some questions about how satisfied residents are with their neighborhoods, and came up with some interesting answers. You know those bad parts of town that are run down and grubby looking? Well, they got that way because the residents have bigger concerns.

Short version: Happy residents who were satisfied with their neighborhoods said they were satisfied because of things like public transportation, access to recreational opportunities, distance from family and friends, and appearance. People who were dissatisfied said that they were unhappy because of violence, and feared for their safety. The happy residents didn't mention crime, and the unhappy residents didn't complain about housing density.

So, route the police patrols through the unhappy neighborhoods and the bus lines through the happy neighborhoods and it's problem solved, I guess.

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2 comments:

Lidian said...

Are the happy residents happy because they are far from or near to those family and friends? And did anyone mention noise issues, apropos of that? Because that is what would really make me unhappy, like when we shared a party wall with an aspiring Ringo Starr, long ago.

Loved the neighborhood, but not the soundtrack.

Stanley! said...

I'd imagine that they were happy about being near to friends and far from family, but I haven't read the individual responses.

I shared a wall once with a family that had a baby and worked odd hours. It was rough because they'd insist on waking the baby up in the middle of the night so it could spend time with its father, but all I ever heard through the wall was screaming.

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