Perrigo Judith L, Ginther Anna, Syeda Haniya S, Shier Victoria, Datar Ashlesha
Luskin School of Public Affairs Social Welfare Department, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), 337 Charles E Young Dr E, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
Societies (Basel). 2025 May;15(5). doi: 10.3390/soc15050140. Epub 2025 May 20.
Public housing redevelopments can disrupt community members' sense of belonging and attachment to their neighborhood, in large part due to resident displacement and gentrification. Recent public housing redevelopment efforts seek to mitigate these adverse changes, but evidence of their association with community social cohesion is limited. The current mixed methods study examines community social cohesion from different perspectives during a large public housing and neighborhood redevelopment in Southern California. Semi-structured qualitative interviews ( = 21) were conducted with various community stakeholders to explore their perceptions of social cohesion within the context of public housing and neighborhood redevelopment. Additionally, the Social Cohesion scale was used to evaluate residents' ( = 647) sense of neighborhood social cohesion. Stakeholders raised concerns about how redevelopment could disrupt the social fabric of their communities and underscored the importance of deliberate efforts to promote integration between existing and incoming residents. The significance of creating physical spaces, protecting landmarks, and facilitating social interaction to cultivate a sense of belonging was also emphasized. Residents of the public housing redevelopment reported significantly higher levels of social cohesion when compared to residents from two neighboring public housing complexes that are not undergoing redevelopment. Implications for public housing redevelopment strategies, community integration efforts, and future research are discussed.
公共住房重建可能会扰乱社区成员的归属感以及他们与邻里的情感联结，这在很大程度上是由于居民搬迁和高档化。近期的公共住房重建工作试图减轻这些不利变化，但关于它们与社区社会凝聚力之间关联的证据有限。当前这项混合方法研究在南加州的一个大型公共住房及社区重建项目中，从不同角度考察了社区社会凝聚力。对各类社区利益相关者进行了半结构化定性访谈（n = 21），以探讨他们在公共住房和社区重建背景下对社会凝聚力的看法。此外，还使用了社会凝聚力量表来评估居民（n = 647）的邻里社会凝聚力感。利益相关者对重建可能如何破坏其社区的社会结构表示担忧，并强调了刻意努力促进现有居民和新迁入居民融合的重要性。还强调了创造实体空间、保护地标以及促进社交互动以培养归属感的重要性。与两个未进行重建的相邻公共住房小区的居民相比，参与公共住房重建项目的居民报告的社会凝聚力水平显著更高。文中讨论了对公共住房重建策略、社区融合努力以及未来研究的启示。
