Relations of Pubic Art, Collective Efficacy, and Crime in Chicago

This study examined the relation of public art and neighborhood involvement in public art with factors of collective efficacy in 30 Chicago neighborhoods (defined as US Census Tracts) to evaluate art’s potential as a violence prevention tool. Public art data were collected and then coded by two independent observers. Mixed effects regression models were analyzed by incorporating public art data, Neighborhood Matters Study data (Henry, Gorman-Smith, Schoeny, & Tolan, 2014) and crime data from the Chicago City Data Portal. Results indicate that there were no main effects of public art or neighborhood involvement, however, when a high proportion of public art has a clear indicator of neighborhood involvement, there are higher perceptions of informal social control in neighborhoods that have average to high public art presence. Discussion focuses on differential influence of public art type, culture, and the potential uses of public art in future violence prevention efforts that incorporate informal social control.