Exploring The Relationship Between Road Infrastructure and Crimes in Memphis, Tennessee

TL;DR

This study investigates how road infrastructure, particularly potholes, correlates with crime rates in Memphis, Tennessee, using data from 2020 to 2022 to identify potential relationships between infrastructure quality and criminal activity.

Contribution

It provides an empirical analysis of the association between pothole repairs and crime incidents, highlighting infrastructure's role in urban safety.

Findings

Identified spatial correlations between pothole locations and crime hotspots.

Observed temporal patterns linking infrastructure projects to crime fluctuations.

Suggests infrastructure improvements may influence crime reduction.

Abstract

Memphis, Tennessee is one of the cities with highest crime rate in the United States. In this work, we explore the relationship between road infrastructure, especially potholes, and crimes. The pothole and crime data are collected from Memphis Data Hub between 2020 and 2022. The crime data report various crimes in the Memphis area, which contain the location, time, and type of the crime. The pothole data is part of the Open 311 data, which contains information of different infrastructure projects, including the location of the project, and the starting and ending dates of the project. We focus on infrastructure projects regarding pothole repairs.