Street Blocks with more Nonresidential Land Use have more Physical Deterioration: Evidence from Baltimore and Philadelphia

Divergent theories offer two possible connections between nonresidential land use and physical deterioration among urban residential street blocks. Jane Jacobs's model of street blocks indicates that blocks with more nonresidential land use will be better kept; studies of territorial functioning indicate that nonresidential land uses interfere with resident-based informal social control. Here, a comparison of Baltimore and Philadelphia indicates a significant positive correlation between latent constructs for physical deterioration and nonresidential land use. Residential blocks with more nonresidential land uses may have more incivilities because the uses draw more people to the block and/or because the uses interfere with resident-based territorial functioning.