AOC: Publicly Driven Investment, Neighborhood Change and Household Behavior

城市结构的广泛变化导致了美国贫困人口的日益集中。过去25年的研究已经证明了社区环境对个人和社会结果的影响，包括教育表现和成就、危险行为和健康、生育、家庭结构和决策。作为回应，广泛的地方公共政策和投资一直针对低收入社区，通常被称为经济或社区“发展”，目标是改变社区和改善个人福祉。然而，关于这些投资和政策的影响的科学研究却很少。之前的研究比较了不同社区的结果，或者研究了从一个社区搬到另一个社区的人。本研究关注的是同一小区重大公共驱动投资前后的情况。本研究收集了社区状况观察、住户调查反馈、经济实验结果、学生、家长和教师报告以及行政学区数据。本研究利用地理位置来测试公共驱动的投资如何改变社区的物理和社会景观以及居民的福祉。本研究利用了一个独特的机会来研究德克萨斯州达拉斯市的一个贫困社区，该社区将在未来五年内经历重大的公共投资，包括一个将带来三个车站的轻轨项目。此外，以交通为导向的发展分区、慈善和非营利活动、HOPE VI奖和税收增量融资区将鼓励私人投资者开发社区。我们预计这些项目将推动显著的变化，特别是在站点周围，而随着距离站点的增加，变化将不那么显著，创建“实验组和对照组”进行比较，并实施科学有效的研究。该社区主要是非裔美国人和西班牙裔美国人，研究涉及非裔美国人和西班牙裔学生研究助理，负责数据收集和研究支持。此外，以社区为基础的工作人员参与数据收集。我们对贫困城市社区公共驱动投资影响的记录将为城市规划者和政策制定者提供有价值的见解。这些数据引起了其他社会和行为科学家的兴趣，包括公共卫生、教育和许多其他领域的研究人员。研究结果阐明了公共投资对社区变革的成本和收益。

Broad changes in urban structure have caused increased concentrations of poverty in the United States. Research over the last 25 years has demonstrated effects of neighborhood context on individual and social outcomes, including educational performance and attainment, risky behavior and health, child bearing, and family structure and decision making. In response, extensive local public policy and investment has been directed at low income neighborhoods, often called economic or community "development," with the goal of changing neighborhoods and improving individual well being. However, there has been little scientific research on the impact of these investments and policies. Previous studies have compared outcomes in different neighborhoods, or studied people who move from one neighborhood to another. This study focuses on the same neighborhood before and after significant publicly-driven investment.In the study, observations of neighborhood conditions, responses on household surveys, results from economic experiments, reports from students, parents and teachers, and administrative school district data are collected. This study exploits geographic location to test how publicly-driven investment changes the physical and social landscape of a neighborhood and the well-being of its residents. This study takes advantage of a unique opportunity to study a poor neighborhood in Dallas, Texas that will experience significant public investment within the next five years, including a light rail project that will bring three stations. In addition, transit oriented development zoning, philanthropic and nonprofit activities, a HOPE VI award, and tax increment financing districts will encourage private investors to develop the neighborhood. We expect that these projects will drive significant change especially around the stations, while change will be less dramatic as distance from the stations increases, creating "treatment and control groups" for comparison and implementing a scientifically valid study. The neighborhood is primarily African-American and Hispanic and the research involves African-American and Hispanic student research assistants for data collection and research support. Additionally, community-based workers participate in the collection of data. Our documentation of the impacts of publicly-driven investment in a poor urban neighborhood will yield valuable insights to city planners and policy makers. The data is of interest to other social and behavioral scientists, including researchers in public health, education, and many other fields. The results illuminate the costs and benefits of public investment for neighborhood change.