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Neighborhoods and Community Safety

Over the past decades, globalization, immigration, technology, crime, and other social, economic, and political forces have radically altered urban life. Faculty in this area attempt to understand the real-world sources and consequences of urban poverty and problems that cities and urban dwellers face, from education and housing to policing and segregation.

A Message From Lincoln Quillian, Program Chair

Image of Lincoln Quillian
IPR’s neighborhoods and community development faculty examine the shifting landscape of urban life, considering myriad issues related to today’s urban experience. Additionally, many IPR faculty work on projects that are closely tied to urban policy in areas such as education, housing, welfare reform, community policing, and performance measurement and rewards.

Working Papers

Recently published articles and working papers in this program area include:

Felipe Gonçalves, Elisa Jácome, and Emily Weisburst. 2024. Immigration Enforcement and Public Safety (WP-24-06).

Ran Abramitzky, Leah Boustan, Elisa Jácome, Santiago Pérez, and Juan David Torres. 2023. Law-Abiding Immigrants: The Incarceration Gap Between Immigrants and the U.S.-Born, 1870–2020 (WP-23-26).

David Hureau, Theodore Wilson, Hilary Jackl, Jalon Arthur, Christopher Patterson, and Andrew Papachristos . 2022. Exposure to Gun Violence Among the Population of Chicago Community Violence Interventionists (WP-22-12).

All Papers

Faculty Experts

Political scientists, sociologists, education and social policy experts, and other social scientists come together to study topics associated with the urban landscape and its communities.

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Events

Oct
09
2024
Improving Neighborhoods to Improve Lives: Re-Imagining the Power of Place

Although the U.S. poverty rate was cut in half between 1959 and 2022, it remains stubbornly high at 11.5%, leaving nearly 40 million Americans—about one in 10—living below the poverty line. Research has shown those who live in the most impoverished neighborhoods in the U.S. are sicker and more stressed than those who live in well-off ones. They also see more violence, attend worse schools, and die at much younger ages. However, efforts to revitalize America’s poverty-stricken neighborhoods are many, including government-funded programs and private-public partnerships.

Register here. 

Join our panel of experts in Washington, D.C. as they examine what’s working to improve America’s most at-risk neighborhoods by curbing violence, creating opportunity, and improving housing and education.

Policy Brief: Preliminary Neighborhood Level Impact Analysis

In the summer of 2017, eight outreach organizations in Chicago joined together to create a comprehensive, long-term intervention to combat gun violence and gang activity. The initiative, Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P), is mobilizing a four-pillar approach to violence. CP4P’s research partner, The Northwestern Neighborhood and Network Initiative (N3), examines what happened to gun violence trends in CP4P treatment communities from 2017–19.

Download the brief