than those lacking in such features. One difficulty, he notes, is that those employed in suburban jobs often commute there from a different suburb, mitigating much of the hypothesised benefit of jobs in the suburb. He indicates that the solution to this is social and political rather than design based. As a political scientist, his work shows that both the participation and voting patterns in suburban neighbourhoods vary markedly with the way that the neighbourhood is integrated with itself, and with the networking patterns of its residents. Neighbourhoods with dense internal social networks are stronger and more able to resist crime, development, pollution, and other "undesirable" features. Neighbourhoods where most residents have few internal connections are loosely organized and threats such as crime will quickly lead to "flight" or departures. The fight or flight response applies to resident decisions about whether to remain or leave a neighbourhood facing change, and Krassa shows that network density and location, as well as neighbourhood type, are important determinants of resident choice. His most influential work is an Op-Ed, "The Bright Side of NIMBY," in which he argues that the "Not In My Back Yard" response by residents is a sign of a level of connections within a neighbourhood that in some ways demonstrates health. Although often NIMBY is seen as something bad, if the residents successfully organize to repel something they see as undesirable, it is a sign that there are interconnections within the neighbourhood that can produce desirable (as well as undesirable) consequences. His other noteworthy finding is that the decline in voter turnout for local and state elections is most dramatic in areas that have the fewest interpersonal ties within the locale. As the proportion of a person's social network lay outside the locale in which one resides declines, the chance that one votes or otherwise participates in local affairs also declines. This is important because political scientists have noted the remarkable decline in voting at all levels but especially the local. Some political scientists have also noted the increasing "nationalization" of all elections—the idea that more and more the same issues are important everywhere. Krassa's findings may help explain this. Bibliography Krassa, Michael et al.,Understanding American Government. 2004. External links University of Illinois - Michael Krassa page Human Dimensions of Environmental Systems Community building American political scientists American urban planners American sociologists Living people University of Illinois faculty Year of