Vacant lot greening can reduce community crime, violence
New research from Michigan Public Health
Communities that are engaged in cleaning, mowing and repurposing vacant spaces are
likely to experience greater reductions in violence and crime than neighborhoods that
do not participate in these activities, according to new research led by the University
of Michigan.
These findings, based on a three-year study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan
Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention and the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention
Center in Youngstown, Ohio, were published this month in the American Journal of Community Psychology. With support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers studied
Busy Streets Theory and the greening hypothesis, which suggest that engaging community
residents in cleaning up and repurposing vacant lots can reduce crime and violence.
"Our results suggest that when local organizations and institutions collaborate with
residents on community improvement, those efforts can help create safer neighborhoods,"
said Laney Rupp, manager of the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Researchers partnered with Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and utilized
data from 2,100 street segments to test the effects of community-engaged vacant lot
greening. Findings revealed that street segments around vacant lots cared for by community
residents experienced more than twice the reduction in violent crime than those receiving
professional maintenance, whereas areas receiving no care saw a slight increase in
violent crime. These findings were the same when looking at crime involving only youth
victims.
A related study, conducted in 2018 in Flint, Mich. by Michigan Public Health researchers,
showed that efforts to maintain vacant lots in the city reduced assaults and violent
crime by 40 percent. In both studies, researchers highlight the need to ensure formal
community partnerships between residents and other stakeholders, such as land banks,
to financially support residents’ work and to avoid burdening vulnerable communities.
"Greening interventions driven by community residents can be readily scalable to cover
large areas, affect population-level change for improving community health, and prevent
violence over time," said Marc Zimmerman, the Marshall H. Becker Collegiate Professor of Public Health and co-director of
the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention.
"Based on our research, we have found that resident engagement is vital to the sustainability
of greening as it is associated with enhanced acceptability of programs, long-term
community buy-in and safer streets."
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Destiny Cook