A critique to Noah Smith’s “Good cities can't exist without public order” substack post from public transit expert Alon Levy. Offers some insight on how the correlation between crime and transit use might be more complicated than how Smith and others commonly state it is.
Posted by PlayDiscord17
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> The American association between high crime rates and deurbanization is not at all normal. Globally, it’s the exact opposite; Gaviria-Goldwyn-Galarza-Angel find that high risk of violence leads to higher urban density, because of the effect of safety in numbers. Simon Gaviria roots this in the history of his own country, Colombia.
All this tells me is that White Flight was a uniquely American form of racism.
White Flight 100% happened, and was 100% motivated by a sense that cities were too dirty and unsafe and full of violence.
Like it or not, “cities = crime” is the American culture war. Reality or not. I’m not quick to embrace “America is just built different from Europe” but on this I won’t hesitate to say so. Fear of crime spurs flight from urban cores in America and drives lower densification. Americans don’t see communal strength in numbers they see security in property, castles, and armaments. We don’t form herds when we’re scared we form fiefdoms.
This is a great article, but I’m most curious about a Gallup poll the author cited showing that Americans think Dallas is the safest city in America
https://news.gallup.com/poll/509801/americans-rate-dallas-boston-safest-cities.aspx
What the hell?