Giddens writes that what most concerns residents of troubled neighborhoods in European and American cities are abandoned cars, graffiti, and youth gangs. As soon as these problems emerge, people "leave the areas in question if they can, or they buy heavy locks for their doors and bars for their windows, and abandon public facilities ....
他寫道：廢棄汽車、塗鴉、幫派是歐美都會中最令人擔心的問題，一旦出現，原有居民就「盡可能的搬離有問題的地區，或者放棄那些公共設施。