In 2011, Mayor Menino established the Problem Properties Task Force (PPTF), an inter-departmental initiative focused on identifying and responding to properties where there is persistent criminal activity and violations of the sanitation and building codes. This effort was inspired by the recognition that some properties contribute more to crime and blight than others. For instance, less than 1% of properties in Boston, MA account for more than half of the city’s gun violence in each year. Even in so-called high-crime communities, these few places pose an undue burden for their neighbors.
Starting in 2012, BARI and the PPTF have partnered to advance the science and practice of problem properties interventions. This collaboration was accelerated in 2019 thanks to a National Science Foundation grant. This research-practice collaboration has centered on the coordination of numerous data sets capturing events and conditions at all properties in Boston over a decade, using advanced data science techniques to:
- Defining “problem property”: We revealed that most troubled properties are vulnerable to single type of issue (e.g., violence, dilapidation, vandalism) and that very few experience all types of issues.
- Neighborhoods still matter: Though troubled properties are rare in all neighborhoods and evolve independently of their surroundings, their issues are more likely to persist and escalate when there is more crime in the community.
- Problem property interventions work: A quasi-experimental evaluation of the PPTF’s work revealed that interventions lower crime and related issues at properties and at other properties on the same street.
The work has been reported in numerous publications (see below), including BARI Director Dan O’Brien’s book The Pointillistic City (MIT Press; 2024). A summary of the project’s major findings is also available here.
Investigators:
Dan O’Brien (Northeastern University; dobrien@northeastern.edu), Alexandra Ciomek, Forrest Hangen, Alina Ristea, Riley Tucker, Michael Zoorob
Publications:
O’Brien, D.T. The Pointillistic City. 2024. MIT Press.
O’Brien, D.T. The pointillistic city and geographic scale in urban science. Nature Cities. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-025-00237-7.
Hangen, F. & O’Brien, D.T. 2025. Linking landlords to uncover ownership obscurity. Housing Studies. 40: 940-965. doi: 10.1080/02673037.2024.2325508.
Tucker, R. & O’Brien, D.T. 2024. Do commercial place managers explain crime across places? Yes and no(pe). Journal of Quantitative Criminology. Online first. doi: 10.1007/s10940-024-09587-2.
Zoorob, M., O’Brien, D.T. 2024. Pacifying problem places: How problem property interventions increase guardianship and reduce disorder and crime. Criminology. 62: 64-89.
O’Brien, D.T., Ciomek, A. 2023. Whence the action? The persistence and aggravation of violent crime at addresses, streets, and neighborhoods. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 60: 819-855. 10.1177/00224278221112839.
O’Brien, D.T., Ristea, A., Tucker, R., Hangen, F. 2023. The emergence and evolution of problematic properties: onset, persistence, aggravation, and desistance. Journal of Quantitative Criminology. 39: 625-653. 10.1007/s10940-022-09542.
Hangen, F., O’Brien, D.T. 2023. The Choice to Discriminate: How Source of Income Discrimination Constrains Opportunity for Housing Choice Voucher Holders. Urban Affairs Review. 59: 1601-1625. 10.1177/10780874221109591.
O’Brien, D.T., Ciomek, A., Tucker, R. 2022. How and why is crime more concentrated in some neighborhoods than others?: A new dimension in community crime. Journal of Quantitative Criminology. 38: 295-321.
O’Brien, D.T., Ristea, A., Hangen, F., Tucker, R. 2022.Different Places, Different Problems: Profiles of Crime and Disorder at Residential Parcels. Crime Science. 11: 4.