Wallace R, Wallace D
New York Psychiatric Institute, New York 10032, USA.
BMJ. 1997 May 3;314(7090):1341-5. doi: 10.1136/bmj.314.7090.1341.
This article describes the cascading diffusion of "inner city problems" of disease and disorder in the United States--from the huge marginalised inner city communities of the largest municipalities, first along national travel routes to smaller cities, and then from central cities into surrounding more affluent suburbs-following the pattern of the daily journey to work. Public policies and economic practices which increase marginalisation act to damage the "weak ties" of the community social networks which bind central city neighbourhoods into functioning units. Spreading disease and disorder can be interpreted as indices of the resulting social disintegration, which is driven by policy. This "failure of containment" in the United States should serve as a warning for cities in Europe against reducing the municipal and other services that they provide to "unpopular" subpopulations.
本文描述了美国疾病与失序等“内城问题”的级联扩散——从最大城市中庞大的边缘化内城社区开始，首先沿着全国交通路线扩散到较小城市，然后从中心城市扩散到周边更富裕的郊区——遵循日常通勤模式。加剧边缘化的公共政策和经济行为会破坏社区社会网络的“弱联系”，而正是这些联系将中心城市社区凝聚成功能单元。疾病和失序的蔓延可被视为由此产生的社会解体的指标，而这种解体是由政策驱动的。美国的这种“遏制失败”应给欧洲城市敲响警钟，警示它们不要削减为“不受欢迎”的亚群体提供的市政及其他服务。
