Neighborhood Resiliency

Abstract

This paper argues that a neighborhood's resiliency depends on the stability of its initial equilibrium state. A neighborhood that possesses a large stock of social and physical capital is not easily dislodged from its beneficial equilibrium, but if dislodged by adverse shocks, its reservoir of capital enables it to return to its initial equilibrium. In the opposite case, a neighborhood severely deprived of social and physical capital and which crosses a critical threshold is not easily dislodged from its harmful equilibrium. The paper first analyzes the properties of resilient neighborhoods, arguing that an increment in any one of them will increase resiliency. Then it argues that ceteris paribus, public and corporate policies that result in an increase in resources will strengthen these properties, while opposite policies will weaken them, and beyond a critical threshold, will result in a “lock-in” effect whereby the neighborhood loses its capacity to bounce back from adversity.