Tipping Points of Neighborhoods

A neighborhood is a small geographic area defined by a combination of public service agencies, developers, planning agencies, people, and tradition. Neighborhoods are geographic places and are identified by houses, streets, parks, schools, retail establishments, and commercial business properties. Neighborhoods are also collections of people identified by age, race, ethnicity, education level, income level, and civic engagement. Each city or community represents a collection of many neighborhoods. Neighborhoods impact citizens’ lives on a day-to-day basis, which, of course, affects community policing and problem solving. Neighborhoods are living, dynamic entities and may be classified as healthy or unhealthy. A number of factors may result in the decline of a neighborhood, eventually resulting in an unhealthy neighborhood. A number of factors may also result in the revitalization ...