Like a Good Neighbor, Squatters Are There: Property and Neighborhood Stability in the Context of Urban Decline

Abstract

In declining cities, an abundance of vacant, devalued property, and underresourced regulatory mechanisms challenge dominant understandings of private ownership of real property as a source of investment and stability for individuals and neighborhoods. Drawing on four years of ethnography and 65 interviews in Detroit, this article finds that, despite the privileged standing of private property in U.S. culture, residents frequently accept or advocate for illegal property use, such as squatting or scrapping. Instead of adhering to the law, residents use a communityembraced norm-an ethos of care-to assess the acceptability of illegal property use, and they do so in order to positively impact the physical and social dynamics of their neighborhoods. The findings of this article highlight the influence of local conditions for how residents perceive property law violations, and call into question the generalizability and applicability of neighborhood improvement strategies that rest on private, legal ownership to induce responsible care.

Urban Studies: Universal Interdisciplinary Strategies

“…It is appropriate to recall Jean Baudrillard's famous work -The City and Hatred‖, where the philosopher shows the limit of destructive human experiences even in an objectively comfortable environment (Baudrillard, 1997). Therefore, we quite agree with a number of researchers who focus their attention primarily on the experiences of citizens: they represent the city through feelings of neighbourhood, safe shelter or resistance (Herbert, 2017), based on a sense of confidence and longevity (Mayer, 2017), appeal as a result, to the idea of a humane city (J gou, 2018). Especially convincing is the representation of the urban man by Thierry Paco, who reveals the existential nature of the city resident, depending on the -rhythm of architecture‖, -street aesthetics‖, -feelings of city expression‖ (Paquot, 2015).…”

No Lawless Place: Foregrounding Property in Sociology

“…Elite condominium developers weasel their way around a regulation to increase building height and therefore also their profits. Alternatively (or simultaneously), municipalities may lack the resources to stay abreast of enforcement and are thus unable to enforce property rights (Herbert 2018(Herbert , 2021.…”

“…Housing research often implicitly intersects with property, but by foregrounding the complex dynamic of property rights for mobile home park residents (many of whom own their home but rent the land), sociologist Esther Sullivan (2018) uncovered a widespread form of instability for low-income homeowners. The first author, sociologist Claire Herbert (2018Herbert ( , 2021 studied property law violations in Detroit and found that in the context of lax municipal enforcement, residents are more concerned with how squatters and scrappers informally relate to properties and neighbors than the legality of their use.…”

Sensing others: Empty buildings and sensory worlds in Detroit

“…State-mediated demolition actions, like those ordered in this article, are steeped in liberal ideals of private ownership as a balance of rights and responsibilities. Given the vast number of empty buildings in Detroit, scholars have highlighted how privately owned structures and territory are incorporated into sites of residence and occupation that are technically illegal, but generally accepted as beneficial (Herbert, 2018; Herscher, 2012). Unlike these means, which are differentially sanctioned from one block to the next, demolitions performed by Detroit’s municipal state are accompanied by formulaic conditions of procedure and due process.…”