Zoning Out Robbery? An Empirical Study in Mexico City. Issue 4 (4th July 2022) - Bonilla Alguera, Gerardo
ABSTRACT: This research article seeks to identify how the type of land use affects the number of robberies and burglaries in Mexico City. Also, it searches for the factors that promote and prevent these crimes in urban settlements, specifically at the neighborhood level in two places: street and home, which are public and private spaces. We run a log-linear ordinary least squares regression model, and some of the results are interesting. With slight differences in the significance of the control variables, it can be inferred that neighborhoods with a predominantly mixed land use tend to concentrate higher rates of street robbery (violent and nonviolent) but lower rates of home burglaries. Additionally, our model's evidence suggests that public transport stops, public schools, convenience stores, clandestine garbage dumps, and bars and restaurants are attractors of pedestrian robbery; meanwhile, convenience stores are detractors of home robberies and burglaries. Against what many studies suggest, the variable of pawnshops per square kilometer had no statistically significant effect on any robbery or burglary rate.