Counting Broken Windows: pursuing an objective measurement of blight

by Miekley, Amy E.

In their article “Broken Windows,” James Q. Wilson Wilson and George L. Kelling popularized the theory that blight indicates criminal activity, and, therefore, repels people from blighted areas. Included in this is the belief that blight breeds more blight. Communities around the nation have latched onto this theory and implemented beautification techniques to improve their neighborhood quality.   Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, created the Blight Index as a tool to aid communities in this process of blight eradication by allowing users to assess the blight before and after implementing the beautification techniques in their neighborhoods. While this tool does provide a means for scoring blight, it is much too subjective for any further analysis to be conducted from the scores. This thesis takes the first step to find if a more objective measurement of blight can be developed.