Local cultures of control, order maintenance policing, and gentrification: A comparison of railway station districts in three German cities

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years, many major German cities have expanded the capacity and legal authority of their municipal order enforcement services and order maintenance policing. The focal action points are central neighborhoods characterized by a concentration of social problems, reinvestment in the built environment, and prevailing feelings of insecurity and the need to improve the quality of life. This study explores the causes of local cultures of control and their relations to order maintenance policing and neighborhood change. We used a document analysis and guided interviews with experts in the railway station districts of Düsseldorf, Leipzig, and Munich. Our findings demonstrate how the local control habitus shapes neighborhood change while being shaped through neighborhood-specific demands for formal social control. Demands for order maintenance policing originate from both the supply (business people) and demand sides (new residents). Moral entrepreneurs convey such demands through the local political context.