Ruling it out or working it out? A community re-creation approach to anti-social behaviour management

A growing number of researchers and policy-makers concern themselves with the effectiveness of different approaches to anti-social behaviour (ASB) management. So far, the ASB problem has been commonly tackled by three mainstream approaches, namely statutory orders (e.g. ASB or injunction orders), tenancy arrangements (e.g. tenancy termination or probationary tenancy) and outreaching (e.g. home visits and counselling). Regardless of their popularity, the long-term effectiveness of these measures is doubtful. Therefore, a new direction for ASB management has to be sought. Given that a pleasant and nuisance-free neighbourhood is a collective good to its residents, its creation necessitates residents’ cooperation. In this regard, other than selective incentives and institutional approach, ASB problem can in theory be alleviated through a communitarian means. It has been proven that collective actions are more likely to occur if members in a group have stronger social ties and mutual trust. Therefore, neighbourhood attachment or sense of community can potentially mediate the social disorder in a neighbourhood. In this light, due consideration should be given to community re-creation which can foster informal social control of ASB within a neighbourhood. Examples of this approach to ASB management are reviewed. Besides, based on the findings of two questionnaire surveys done on public and private housing residents Hong Kong, the feasibility of the community re-creation approach in managing ASB is discussed, followed by the policy implications of research findings. At the end of the paper, an agenda for future studies on the empirical outcomes of this approach is outlined.