The Quarterly Assessment: An April 2017 Special Edition |
The Broken Window Theory and Your Community Associationby Daniel B. Streich
Walt Disney intuitively figured it out and adopted it even before the sociologists came up with it. Rudy Giuliani wholeheartedly believed in it and implemented it during his tenure as Mayor of New York City. What is “it”? An analysis of human behavior known as the “broken window theory.” We think it applicable to community associations as well. A few qualifiers at the outset. When the concept was first published in 1982 in the Atlantic Monthly by noted social scientists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, it was initially perceived as a theory pertaining to urban criminology. That is essentially how it was applied and implemented by Giuliani during his tenure as the chief executive of New York City, where it achieved dramatically successful results, both statistically and empirically. But the theory has since been discussed and applied in other academic disciplines and spheres of human activity as well, with economics as one example.
We acknowledge here that the broken window theory has its critics. Nevertheless, there is a compelling, real-life quality to the theory. It seems to have an undeniable explanatory and predictive capacity. Many – perhaps most – Americans are able to recall experiences or places in their lives in which the theory seems to have been validated, in whole or in part.
Why does this happen? Fundamentally, the theory’s insight is that people are both adaptive and imitative beings. A person is adaptive in that he or she will usually conform their behavior to what they perceive to be the “norm” in their environment, so as to adapt and survive in that environment. In so doing they are essentially imitating those around them. A broken window that goes unrepaired sends a signal to the community. It implicitly communicates a message to the people who observe that minor but continuing indicator of social disorder. That message? No one cares. And if no one cares enough to repair one window, then the community won’t care if more windows are broken, or if further acts of vandalism or social disorder are committed. In fact and effect, an unrepaired broken window – or litter on the street, or graffiti on fences – visually degrades the social order of that community and precipitates an ongoing decline of the acceptable and desirable social norm.
One of my memories – still – from family vacations to Disneyland in my early childhood is of high school and college-aged young people, attired in straw boaters and spotlessly clean, light pastel-colored Disneyland staff uniforms, equipped with short-handled mini-brooms and dustbins attached to three-foot poles, constantly walking around the park, scooping up every straw wrapper, cigarette butt, candy wrapper and every other possible item of refuse and debris that didn’t belong in Disneyland. That was their job. Their conscientious diligence and the scope of their activity impressed me, even at five years of age.
Why the unceasing effort? Because as Walt Disney informed his staff, people who come into an unsullied and orderly environment will be more likely to keep it that way. They will adapt to the norm set by that environment and they will therefore be more likely to respect Disneyland and their fellow guests. It didn’t work on every guest’s subconscious, of course, but it had – and has – the desired general effect, and Disney Corporation’s philosophy in that regard continues to the present day.
Similarly, and in the urban criminology scenario, former NYC Mayor Giuliani implemented the theory to pull New York City back from the precipice of anarchy. Not many sentient individuals who were familiar with that city during the ’70s and ’80s would disagree with a description of the Big Apple as a chaotic, threatening, crime-ridden, nearly ungovernable entity. Its tourist trade had sunk through the floor. When he became NYC’s Mayor, Giuliani faced a challenge that made the Augean stables seem easy by comparison.
The result? New York City became an environment that was no longer menacing in its underlying tone of disorder, crime and chaos. Social order was restored. By reducing the incidence of public and visible lawless acts and social disorder, however minor in nature, Giuliani established and enforced a new social norm, and that signaled to both NYC residents and to potential visitors that Gotham had turned a corner. Tourists returned, crime rates plummeted and the city prospered. New York City’s precipitous decline into anarchic chaos had been arrested, and just in time.
We suspect that by now you have discerned the applicability of the broken window theory to community association governance. What is the norm or prevailing standard in your community? Is your neighborhood generally neat, clean, orderly and well-maintained? Or, conversely, do too many front lawns in your community look like the upland meadows through which Julie Andrews joyfully cavorted in the opening scenes of The Sound of Music? Is peeling paint the norm? Detached gutters? Missing or cockeyed shutters? Garbage cans – or even just garbage – at the curb 24/7? Trailers with watercraft parked in front yards? Broken fences, or even the presence of graffiti? What norm or standard does that appearance communicate to others… say, for example, to potential purchasers who may be driving through your neighborhood?
Because that’s the important point, isn’t it? You may not have known it when you purchased your home in your homeowners or condominium association community. You may not currently understand and appreciate the value of the restrictive covenants and related rules and regulations that govern the appearance and your use of your dwelling. But the fundamental purpose of such restrictions is to preserve the value of your real estate investment. Who among us purchased their home in the hope that they’ll have to sell it someday for less than what they paid for it? Go ahead, raise your hands. Anyone? Didn’t think so.
In summary, we acknowledge that one could push the broken window theory too far with respect to its applicability to community association governance and covenant enforcement. But it is instructive as to observable human behavior, and thus when implemented it can support the shared goal of preserving property values in your neighborhood. Fix the window. Mow the lawn. Hide the garbage cans. Set and enforce a norm and thereby send the message that someone cares. All of your members will benefit from that approach, even if they don’t realize it in the short term.
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Photo credits (top to bottom):1. Vandalized warehouse, istockphoto.com/eyecrave |