Prevalence of Fear and Crime and Methods for Reducing Fear and Crime Rate in Kingston-Galloway Neighborhood - Research Paper Example

Prevalence of Fear and Crime and Methods for Reducing Fear and Crime Rate in Kingston-Galloway Neighborhood Background Psychological health is of paramount importance for everyone. Anxiety and fear are two mental problems that are commonly faced by everyone. Among other causes, the role and contribution of crime cannot be undermined. Fear takes places when passing through an empty street where chances of robbery and snatching become largely higher. At the same time, anxiety occurs when fear of unknown incident is unavoidable. Both mental problems have devastating effects for society and the community as well. Similarly, the anti-social activities, including burglary, robbery and other types of street crime manifestations have negative and destructive effects on the psychological wellbeing of the affected individuals and families as well. Additionally, the effects of crime are not restricted to the individual and family level instead they are more serious and dangerous as well. For example, it creates mistrust among neighbors, friends and relatives, making it hard for all society members to think beyond the traditional boundary of personal and family betterment. As a result, it further disintegrates society and individuals living in communities. Research problem Growing level of fear is largely caused by the rate of crime which subsequently makes it hard for the affected individuals and families to think and work normally. Research questions How does crime increase level of fear in the Asian community living in Kingston-Galloway neighborhood? What are the main types of crime in the neighborhood? What are the causes of crime? What are the remedies for reducing crime? The Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool (Urban HEART) is used for assessing and measuring equity in areas, localities, towns, neighborhoods and cities (Centre for Research in Inner City Health, 2014). However, there are more healthy urban factors that highlight the connection between healthy and stable social and economic life in urban life structure; social determinants of health, health in policies, equity, civic deliberations and sustainable development (Andress, 2009). Additionally, the main objective of Urban HEART is to enable community organizations, governments to appropriately comprehend the social determinants of health and their subsequent effects on the individuals and families living in city life (Word Health Organization, 2010). In addition, this tool (urban HEART) highlights health inequities besides providing an opportunity for inter-sectoral interaction and community participation and contribution (Amit et al., 2013). At the same time, Urban HEART is based on certain steps including building an inclusive team, determining and developing goals and parameters, collecting and amassing useful and authentic data along with reasonable evidence besides evaluating health equity along with gaps (World Health Organization, 2010a). More specifically, socio-economic indicators highlight health inequities in urban areas (Asadi-Lari et al., 2010). Consequently, this all has effect on overall urban design and urban planning of modern cities and neighborhoods (Carol and Wilkinson, 2012). However, it has been observed that violence and its different manifestations have appeared in all urban setting regardless of counter efforts taken for reducing their presence and effect on the social fabric of today’s cities (Moser and Mcllwaine, 1999). Graph 01: Urban HEART and Integration Into the Local Planning Cycle Source: (World Health Organization, 2010) Methodology provides method for collecting and analyzing data. Research approach of interpretivism will be used for analyzing the collected data. The theory of interpretivism is based on the qualitative theory which insists that the subjective understanding of objects and facts are more understandable than the objective understanding which is supported by the theory of positivism. Keeping in view the overall objective this research proposal, the researcher will only use qualitative research approach for defining, explaining, interpreting and analyzing the data collected. In this regard, it is important to mention that city strategy will also be included in which all health, economic and social and community policies and practices will also be considered along with the findings obtained through collected data. Moreover, different communities and their representative will be involved in the data collection process. The communities, representing Asia, Middle East, South America, Eastern Africa and local natives will be asked to participate in this program. In this regard, it is important to mention that each community will be represented and led by individuals which will be nominated by the community for representing them for the purpose of study and data collection. Primary research and secondary research method will be employed for collecting data. The primary research represents first hand information which will be collected through obtaining data from the respondents representing different communities. On the other hand, the secondary research is collected from books, journals, newspapers, websites and other sources which do not provide first hand information or data. Keeping this view in mind, the researcher will collect the earlier information and data on the topic from authentic sources, such as World Health Organization, academic and peer-reviewed journals along with books will be the key for obtaining information for the literature review part. Questionnaire survey will be used for collecting primary data from the potential respondents. The survey questionnaire will contain only close ended questions in which each question will have certain options and the respondents will be required to select an appropriate answer. Free consent will be obtained from the potential respondents. The findings will be highly essential and significant for providing healthy and livable environment to Kingston-Galloway neighborhood through evaluating the reasons behind crime rate. For attaining this objective, the role of respondents and their contribution for evaluating the reasons will be crucial importance for the study. As a result, it is highly essential that the respondents should speak fairly and without having bias against any other community members. It is difficult to fully eliminate the personal bias and its subsequent effects on the questionnaire and survey results. For example, both India and Pakistan do not share healthy and positive relationship; as a result, the residents of these countries, who are now living in this neighborhood, may not put away their difference for providing fair and reasonable assessment and contribution to this study. Consequently, the chances of effects of bias on the findings and subsequent results cannot be avoided. References Andress, L. (2009). Healthy Urban Planning: The Concept, Tools, and Application. Texas: University of Texas Medical Branch, Center to Eliminate Health Disparities. Asad-Lari, M., Vaez-Mahdavi, R.M., Faghihzadeh, S., Montazeri, A., Farshad, A. A., Kalantari, N., Maher, A., Golmakani, M.M., Salehi, G.H., Motevallian, S.A., & Malek-Afzali, H. (2010). The application of urban health equity assessment and response tool (urban HEART) in Tehran; concepts and framework. Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 175-185. Carol, R., & Wilkinson, B. (2012). Equal Access: Providing Urban Agricultural Benefits to Under-Served Communities. Thesis to the Department of Landscape of Architecture and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Landscape Architecture. Oregon: University of Oregon Graduate School. Centre for Research in Inner City Health, (2014). Urban HEART @Toronto: Technical Report/User Guide. Retrieved: http://www.torontohealthprofiles.ca/urbanheartattoronto/UrbanHeart_TechnicalReport_v1.pdf Moser, C., & Mcllwaine, C. (1999). Participatory urban appraisal and its application for research on violence. Environment & Urbanization, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 203-226. World Health Organization, (2010). Urban HEART: User Manual. Retrieved: http://www.who.int/kobe_centre/publications/urban_heart_manual.pdf Prasad, A., Maria, A., Groot, M., Monteiro, T., Murphy, K., O’Campo, P., Broide, E.E., & Kano, M. (2013). Linking evidence to action on social determinants of health using Urban HEART in the Americas. Rev Panam Salud Publica, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 407-415. World Health Organization, (2010). Urban HEART: Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool. Switzerland: WHO Press. World Health Organization, (2010a). Urban HEART: Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool: user manual. Switzerland: WHO Press. Annotated bibliography Article authors Article Title Article Summary Author(s)’s Argument Value for research Caroline Moser and Cathy Mcllwaine (1999) Participatory urban appraisal and its application for research on violence The article highlights causes and effects of violence in the urban settings by especially focusing on researching on different cities in Guatemala and Colombia. The authors highlight and use participatory urban appraisals on violence besides explaining this appraisal by particularly elaborating the conditions of urban poor. At the same time, they also highlight strategies for mitigating the effects of violence through different interventionist strategies. The authors contend that participatory research should be conducted for assessing and evaluating research on violence in the urban areas. Subsequently, they insist that there are different kinds of violence including political, economic and social as well and they are fuelled by the factors, such as exclusion and poverty. This article provides main source for literature review and the historical development relating to the crime. In this regard, it is important to highlight that crime is also a manifestation of violence. As a result, numerous strategies, causes and effects of different violence types will of crucial importance for highlighting and evaluating crime and its psychological effects on individuals and families living in Kingston-Galloway neighborhood. Mohsen Asadi-Lari et al. (2010) The application of urban health equity assessment and response tool (Urban HEART) in Tehran; concepts and framework Health inequalities are increasing between the poor and the rich in the urban settings. For assessing this damage, the authors have used four policy domains through using the methodology of conducting surveys on sixty five indicators in 6 different domains related to health inequalities along with social determinants of health encompassing human and social, physical and infrastructure, governance, economic, and nutrition and health. The authors argue that the health inequalities in Tehran are increasing especially in urban areas. And to prove and assess this argument, they have carried out the research by using the Urban HEART tool. And the findings indicate that the argument has been supported by the actual results obtained through applying the primary research. The use of different dimensions of Urban HEART by dividing them into different aspects is of crucial importance for the proposed research as the adopted methodology will enable the researcher to understand the survey methods and strategies used for collecting primary data and subsequently analyze them. Renee Carol Bedney Wilkinson (2012) Equal Access: Providing Urban Agricultural Benefits to Under-Served Communities The authors first identify under-served communities who are unable to have equitable access to food, adequate nutrition and poor community cohesion. More specifically, the authors attempt to highlight that the insufficient access to food, which is the basic human need, leads to disintegration of society and different communities as well. for assessing this impact, the authors have used GIS data for highlighting the potential areas for developing urban farms which should be located in future. The authors argue that urban farm locations should be more strategically developed and planed as it is directly related to the provision of healthy food access to vulnerable communities in form of under-served paradigm. This research will be helpful for assessing the impact of food security on social cohesion. In this regard, it is important to mention that the social cohesion, which is and will always be a crucial factor among communities in diverse societies. Since Kingston-Galloway neighborhood is culturally diverse, the same approach will also be useful for attaining the research objective of the study. Lauri, Andress (2009) Healthy Urban Planning: The Concept, Tools and Application The relationship between urban planning and population health has been examined by the author. For this purpose, the author has separated theme subjects, such as equity, social determinants of health, health in all policies, civil deliberations and sustainable development. For this purpose, the author has used three key assessment tools have been applied along with eleven factors. Subsequently, the author provides recommendations which are based on the findings obtained from the research activity. The author insists that any plan of action must not be directly implemented but it should be understood by the community members along with understanding the political and social environment of the locale. In the proposed research, health of communities will be a key area on which maximum effort and concentration will be given. Keeping this view in mind, the work of Lauri Andress will assist in highlighting those factors that directly or indirectly affect health of communities. Although this article may not be directly helpful, yet it has potential to highlight the specific areas, such as sustainability, equity, which will be very crucial in the proposed research. Amit Prasad et al. (2013) Linking evidence to action on social determinants of health using Urban HEART in the Americas The authors apply Urban HEART for assessing the experience of four cities (Toronto, Guarulhos, Medellin and Bogota). In this endeavor, teams were sent to each city. The subsequent results indicate that each city has different interventions. The authors have insisted that the use and application of Urban HEART should be spread to all countries coming under the ambit of Americas. The proposed research tends to facilitate social interaction among different stakeholders in the neighborhood. For this purpose, the work of article will be significant as it highlights HEART application in Toronto. World Health Organization (2010a) Urban HEART: Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool: user manual. The institute has carried out pilot study on the urban HEART in various cities of the world in which the participant have provided their feedback relating to the various aspects of HEART. This document serves as a manual highlighting the purpose and potential users of this manual. This document will be highly significant as it highlights the basic structure relating to urban HEART along with pilot test findings. Read More