Environment and Crime in the Inner City: Does Vegetation Reduce Crime?

Kuo, F.E.; Sullivan, W. C.

doi:10.1177/00139160121973025

Cited by 578 publications

(489 citation statements)

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“…With a few exceptions, 79,91,101,104,[127][128][129] prior studies have not applied experimental or quasi-experimental approaches in testing whether urban greening affects health and safety and therefore have limited ability to establish causal mechanisms. 64 Despite implementation challenges and longer study periods, new studies should aim to provide the highest level of evidence through randomized controlled trials.…”

Section: Experimental and Mixed-methods Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…100,102,103 In contrast, emerging evidence suggests that urban green space may be associated with lower rates of crime. Vegetation abundance has been linked to reductions in violent crimes, property crimes, 104 assault, robbery, and burglary. 105 Larger crown spreads of street trees and residential-lot trees have been associated with fewer total crimes, property crimes, and vandalism.…”

Section: Urban Greening and Public Safetymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…106,107 A natural experiment in a public housing development showed that more vegetation was associated with decreased violent and property crime. 104 In one quasi-experimental study, gun violence was significantly reduced around previously vacant land that had been transformed to well-maintained green space trees. 79 The authors postulated that cleaning and greening physically decreased opportunities for hiding guns and other illegal activity by removing uncontrolled growth of weeds and buildup of large trash items on vacant land.…”

Section: Urban Greening and Public Safetymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nature-Based Strategies for Improving Urban Health and Safety

2015

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Place-based programs are being noticed as key opportunities to prevent disease and promote public health and safety for populations at-large. As one key type of place-based intervention, nature-based and green space strategies can play an especially large role in improving health and safety for dwellers in urban environments such as US legacy cities that lack nature and greenery. In this paper, we describe the current understanding of place-based influences on public health and safety. We focus on nonchemical environmental factors, many of which are related to urban abandonment and blight. We then review findings from studies of nature-based interventions regarding impacts on health, perceptions of safety, and crime. Based on our findings, we suggest that further research in this area will require (1) refined measures of green space, nature, and health and safety for cities, (2) interdisciplinary science and cross-sector policy collaboration, (3) observational studies as well as randomized controlled experiments and natural experiments using appropriate spatial counterfactuals and mixed methods, and (4) return-on-investment calculations of potential economic, social, and health costs and benefits of urban greening initiatives. KEYWORDS Urban nature, Green space, Place-based interventions, Public health, CrimeThere is growing support of place-based programs to help prevent disease and promote public health and safety. [1][2][3][4][5] This movement is largely motivated by increasing findings that public health interventions targeted at individuals or behaviors have limited effect on health and safety outcomes at a population scale. 6 For example, educational programs that promote behavioral change among very specific, targeted population groups may not impact broader societal issues such as the actual contexts within which unhealthy behaviors like tobacco use, lack of exercise, poor diet, distracted driving, and violence occur. 7-9 Moreover, programmatic impact is rarely sustained beyond the small study populations that are targeted. When funding ends, program impact thus also often ends unless, in very rare instances, the program itself somehow becomes institutionalized or part of a larger social norm.Place-based programs rest on increasing evidence that in addition to biological and individual attributes, everyday environments have a potentially strong and Kondo is with the USDA-Forest Service, Northern Research Station,

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Section: Experimental and Mixed-methods Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Urban Greening and Public Safetymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Urban Greening and Public Safetymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nature-Based Strategies for Improving Urban Health and Safety

2015

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“…Although earlier research suggested that dense and naturally vegetated areas were perceived as insecure and threatening (e.g., [61]), these perceptions have been changing through the years with our understanding of how mental fatigue and stress are mitigated by green space and its most dominant feature-trees. More recent research shows that residents living in greener surroundings report lower levels of fear, fewer incivilities, and less aggressive and violent behaviour [62].…”

Section: A Suite Of Urban-forest Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trees in Canadian Cities: Indispensable Life Form for Urban Sustainability

et al. 2015

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Abstract:We argue that a healthy urban forest contributes immensely to the sustainability of cities. The argument is based on a comprehensive array of values elicited from Canadians in several cities. To begin, we define the urban forest as inclusive of all the trees in the city and thus representing the predominant contributor to a city's green infrastructure. Then we enumerate and explain the broad diversity of ways in which urban people value trees in the city. We, thus, show the myriad pathways by which trees contribute positively to any city's social, economic, and ecological sustainability. Following a short summary of the ways in which trees may detract from people's quality of life, we present promising management directions for urban-forest improvement, as we understand the situation in Canada. We conclude that all cities can enhance their sustainability by improving the urban forest.

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“…While some researchers have noted the particular benefits of community gardening and greening initiatives in lower SES communities (Faber-Taylor, Wiley, Kuo, Bacaicoa, & Sullivan, 1998;Kuo & Sullivan, 2001;Kuo, Sullivan, Coley, & Brunson, 1998;Trust for Public Land, 1995), little is understood about the relationship between school ground greening and SES. Of course the consequences of different SES's manifest themselves in numerous ways beyond the most obvious issue of funding and extend into other aspects of greening projects such as access to adult assistance as well as perceptions of the importance of green school grounds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%