CDZ Thought Exercise: Big Cities & Crime

Humans are territorial and materialistic- large numbers are going to create conflict of material acquisition in a territory- how either is acquired, territory or material, is determined by what one feels entitled to. Entitled implies earned. Earned is defined as working for. Criminal activity is working for. It is earning.
Allocating, territory and material, by an outsider is not natural and creates envy- envy causes criminal activity to flourish- it becomes the norm. It is accepted, and many times, admired by peers and instills fear in others- fear is used to gain territory and material and it becomes a vicious cycle. As the cycle perpetrators increase in numbers the territory becomes larger, by default, as those living in fear retreat from the territory- at some point, those living in fear will rise up against the perpetrators and it will start all over- it's a story old as time- time and action is cyclical-
 
I thought that starting this thread in the CDZ would slightly increase my chances of an interesting conversation. Here goes:

We can (probably) agree that most of our big cities have significant crime problems. The gross totals are high, the rates are high, and in many cases the crime is more severe. Let's try to stipulate to that here.

But rather than doing the usual collapse into simplistic partisan finger-pointing, I'm wondering what it is about cities that reach a certain size that creates this environment. Obviously these cities are or were dynamic and special enough to attract these people in the first place, and I think that's a key to this. It seems like the problem is what happened after it attracted a huge amount of people.

So rather than ramble, I'll stop there and expand in the thread. But I want to start with two questions:

1. Is it possible for a city to become "too large"?
2. If so, is there anything we can do to manage or mitigate that?


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OldLady, Dont Taz Me Bro, Toro, rightwinger, Johnlaw, MaryAnne11, citygator, Tom Paine 1949, Ben Thomson, bodecea, Lesh, Seawytch, EvilEyeFleegle, Winston, WinterBorn, JackOfNoTrades, Camp, Coyote
The cause is a feed back loop. The crime is CONCENTRATED in specific areas. The people stuck in those areas learn it from their neighbors and it spreads until it meats a geographic barrier.
Yeah, I suspect that's how the severity of the crime increases more quickly than it would in a smaller, less attractive city.

I do wonder if there is some kind of identifiable population at which this begins to happen, and what might be done at that point.
 
It is benign. It's a question that has often been asked with "urban planning" but not in the same way or at least not in the same era.

Mr. Olmsted was a firm believer in the environment can soothe the savage beast. To a degree, he was right but it did not cure the ills because it was not the root cause. People went to the parks to enjoy them. Others went for opportunity. You may have heard of him in connection with the NYC Central Park. He was active all around the country. Even in places like Chicago.


Crime exists in major cities because it is allowed to. In Chicago and other areas this is not learned from the neighbors so much as you are born into it. It's a lifestyle. People feel that they are entitled to certain things.

This is how advertising works:

In order to be a better individual you have to own whatever. People are bombarded with this message and creates a sense of entitlement. The average street dealer is looking at the job over at McDonalds making maybe $800-900 a month laughing because it can easily be made in one night.
 
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I thought that starting this thread in the CDZ would slightly increase my chances of an interesting conversation. Here goes:

We can (probably) agree that most of our big cities have significant crime problems. The gross totals are high, the rates are high, and in many cases the crime is more severe. Let's try to stipulate to that here.

But rather than doing the usual collapse into simplistic partisan finger-pointing, I'm wondering what it is about cities that reach a certain size that creates this environment. Obviously these cities are or were dynamic and special enough to attract these people in the first place, and I think that's a key to this. It seems like the problem is what happened after it attracted a huge amount of people.

So rather than ramble, I'll stop there and expand in the thread. But I want to start with two questions:

1. Is it possible for a city to become "too large"?
2. If so, is there anything we can do to manage or mitigate that?


==============
OldLady, Dont Taz Me Bro, Toro, rightwinger, Johnlaw, MaryAnne11, citygator, Tom Paine 1949, Ben Thomson, bodecea, Lesh, Seawytch, EvilEyeFleegle, Winston, WinterBorn, JackOfNoTrades, Camp, Coyote
The cause is a feed back loop. The crime is CONCENTRATED in specific areas. The people stuck in those areas learn it from their neighbors and it spreads until it meats a geographic barrier.
Yeah, I suspect that's how the severity of the crime increases more quickly than it would in a smaller, less attractive city.

I do wonder if there is some kind of identifiable population at which this begins to happen, and what might be done at that point.
The druggie, first the druggie then trap houses form. Then they steal to get high loop fully formed.
 
The cause is a feed back loop. The crime is CONCENTRATED in specific areas. The people stuck in those areas learn it from their neighbors and it spreads until it meats a geographic barrier.
The ubiquitous "honor culture" in our inner cities is obviously a very significant factor. I was binge watching the First 48 TV series recently. For those not familiar with the show, the A&E camera crews embed with police department homicide units in various large cities across the country. It's shocking how often victims are murdered for the pettiest reasons. In the honor culture of the hood, any little real or perceived sleight (diss') can cause violent retribution. Sometimes extreme violence and murder.

When everybody in the hood is walking around with a chip on their shoulder, there's going to be a lot of violence.
 

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