Project Summary:
I examined the current fears of those living within West Philadelphia concerning personal safety when negotiating the street. The study was part of a larger project directed by Dr. Lakshman Yapa, entitled The Philadelphia Project: Re-Thinking Urban Poverty. Data was collected through interviews, a focus group, personal observations, and police statistics. The first hypothesis theorized that safety perceptions between residents, police officers and members of Philadelphia Town Watch, and those previously incarcerated would differ; however, on the whole, the level of concern over personal safety was consistent in each group. Thus, fear for one's personal safety did not appear to have resulted from the given type of interaction with the street or delinquency. Rather, the level of perceived security reportedly derived from familiarity with the neighborhood and residents. Transience, dilapidation, poverty, population density, and combined commercial and residential districts were all characteristic of the West Philadelphia neighborhood I studied. Those aspects negatively affected the concerns of residents in the neighborhood, interactions with other residents, and internalization of the stigmas associated with poor, African-American, urban neighborhoods that lead toward feelings of alienation. It is the assertion and argument of this paper that alienation and perceived isolation from the greater population heightens the sense of fear felt in impoverished urban neighborhoods. Suggested approaches to addressing the problems of alienation included increased homeownership, a greater focus on community-based policing, and an alternative means of discussing and viewing the inner city.