The Pointillistic City

A new paradigm of research, policy, and practice that acknowledges the multiple scales at which we live every day.

The Pointillistic City explores the multilayer geography of our daily lives—specifically, how we simultaneously live at the scales of addresses, streets, and neighborhoods and how each can be relevant for our well-being. Not unlike the way in which we look at a pointillistic painting, which depicts a full scene through the detailed organization of multiple objects, Daniel T. O’Brien considers the three scales together and the comprehensive understanding of the city they offer. The pointillistic approach to the city contrasts with decades of focus on neighborhoods. As such, it surfaces microspatial inequities, or disparities in experiences between people living in the same neighborhood, even right around the corner from each other. Microspatial inequities have gone largely unnoticed to date, and their recognition offers a new approach to understanding and supporting the diverse population of the city.

This book illustrates the pointillistic perspective on cities with two in-depth case studies—one on crime, the other on environmental justice—in Boston. These studies highlight microspatial inequities and their interplay with broader neighborhood conditions, and they go even further by demonstrating how these insights can be incorporated into a new generation of policies and practices that are science driven and community led, truly addressing disparities both between and within our communities.Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Pointillistic City
Part I: Where You Live Matters
1 Neighborhoods Matter
2 Places Matter
Part II: Troubled Properties and Their Communities
3 Diverse Places, Diverse Problems
4 The Life Course of Troubled Places
5 Action and Setting
Part III: Environmental Justice and Microspatial Inequities
6 Pointillism and Environmental Justice
7 Places Matter for Environmental Hazards
8 Microspatial Inequities in Action
Part IV: Supporting Communities through Their Places
9 Pacifying Problem Places in Collaboration with Communities
10 Common SENSES for Hyperlocal Environmental Justice
Conclusion: A Pointillistic Future for Research, Policy, and Practice
Appendices
Notes
References
Index“Questioning our policy focus on the ‘neighborhood’ scale, O’Brien carefully excavates the multilayered, pointillistic city. Highlighting Boston’s use of urban informatics to address microspatial inequities, he shows how such policies can successfully address crime and environmental justice.”
—Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University; coeditor of The Immigrant-Food Nexus

“Like the pointillist painting style, where the larger picture is formed out of the aggregate of fine details, O’Brien’s book elevates the importance of street- and block-level analysis in our understanding and planning of cities, revealing deep diversity in urban form and patterns of urban segregation.”
—Michael Batty, Bartlett Professor of Planning, University College London; author of The Computable City and Inventing Future Cities

“A game-changing exploration of urban dynamics that revolutionizes our approach to understanding and addressing city issues. O'Brien's work paves the way for nuanced urban policies that can transform our communities from the ground up.”
—Beth Noveck, Professor, Northeastern University; Director, Burnes Center for Social Change; Director, The Governance Lab; Chief AI Strategist, State of New JerseyDaniel T. O’Brien is Professor in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University and Director of the Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI), which advances civically engaged research in collaboration with the communities of greater Boston. He is the author of The Urban Commons and the textbook Urban Informatics.