Emerging Gang Geographies

Dirk Kinsey, Portland State University, Department of Geography 

This project examines changing patterns of youth and gang violence in the Portland metropolitan area, along  with the emergence of new policing and policy responses. In recent years, the Portland area has seen a relatively sudden and generally steady increase in gang related activity. Contrary to historical patterns, recent activity has been largely located outside of inner city neighborhoods, becoming more diffuse and simultaneously localized. This migration of gang activity corresponds with a recent period of intensified gentrification and growing income inequality between the region’s center and periphery. This research seeks to understand not only how uneven development processes influence the proliferation of gang violence, but how state responses in the form of enforcement and prevention measures grapple with and relate to newly suburbanized poverty and unfolding geographies of violence and marginality.

Twitter: @dirkkinsey