TY - JOUR
T1 - Resident appropriation of defensible space in public housing
T2 - Implications for safety and community
AU - Brunson, Liesette
AU - Kuo, Frances E.
AU - Sullivan, William C.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - Defensible space (DS) theory proposes that the built environment can promote neighborhood safety and community by encouraging residents' appropriation of near-home space. This article examined the relationship between three different forms of resident appropriation and residents' experiences of neighborhood safety and community. Results from a survey of 91 public housing residents living in moderately defensible spaces suggested that residents who defended near-home space through territorial appropriation experienced the neighborhood as a safer, more cohesive community than did residents who did not appropriate space in this way. Residents who spent more time outside experienced the neighborhood as a safer place; however, casual social interaction in near-home space was not consistently related to outcomes. While no casual information is available from the correlational data presented here, this work takes an important step of providing empirical evidence of a systematic link between certain aspects of resident appropriation and positive outcomes. Implications for DS theory and for public housing policy are discussed.
AB - Defensible space (DS) theory proposes that the built environment can promote neighborhood safety and community by encouraging residents' appropriation of near-home space. This article examined the relationship between three different forms of resident appropriation and residents' experiences of neighborhood safety and community. Results from a survey of 91 public housing residents living in moderately defensible spaces suggested that residents who defended near-home space through territorial appropriation experienced the neighborhood as a safer, more cohesive community than did residents who did not appropriate space in this way. Residents who spent more time outside experienced the neighborhood as a safer place; however, casual social interaction in near-home space was not consistently related to outcomes. While no casual information is available from the correlational data presented here, this work takes an important step of providing empirical evidence of a systematic link between certain aspects of resident appropriation and positive outcomes. Implications for DS theory and for public housing policy are discussed.
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U2 - 10.1177/00139160121973160
DO - 10.1177/00139160121973160
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0034784295
SN - 0013-9165
VL - 33
SP - 626
EP - 652
JO - Environment and Behavior
JF - Environment and Behavior
IS - 5
ER -