Oscar Newman

Oscar Newman is a starring character in Show Me a Hero. He is played by starring cast member Peter Riegert.

Newman is a sociologist and architect who has spent his career developing a theory of defensible space. He believes that large scale public housing projects encourage antisocial behavior because there is too much shared space which no individual resident feels responsible for. He is hired as a consultant on the proposal to build Public Housing in Yonkers, New York. The housing is court ordered by Judge Leonard B. Sand as a remedy for systematic segregation by the local government.

Newman develops a plan for scattered site housing - lower numbers of units spread more widely across the area to facilitate integration with the existing neighborhoods.