Citywide cluster randomized trial to restore blighted vacant land and its effects on violence, crime, and fear

Branas, Charles C.; South, Eugenia C.; Kondo, Michelle C.; Hohl, Bernadette C.; Bourgois, Philippe; Wiebe, Douglas J.; MacDonald, John M.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1718503115

Cited by 330 publications

(228 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Only a handful of studies used qualitative methods. Branas et al, Blair, and Garvin et al employed a mixed-methods approach by combining quantitative crime analyses with interviews or surveys to assess perceptions of crime and neighborhood disorder [34][35][36]. While most studies included in the scope of this review used jurisdictional crime data, a few research teams used survey measures to assess the risk of aggressive behavior or perceptions of crime and safety.…”

Section: Patterns In Study Topics and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies that focused specifically on gun violence support the hypothesis that green space reduces this violence [11,34,36,40,[42][43][44][45][46]. Of the nine studies (two reported in a single publication by Branas et al [11]), six had the expected outcomes.…”

Section: Study Findingsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…All of these studies suggested that greening interventions or the presence of community gardens were related to a reduction in crime. Included in this group is a series of pre-post studies by Branas et al in which researchers "cleaned and greened" a series of lots over several years in Philadelphia, PA, resulting in decreased incidence of gun violence [11,34,40]. Heinze et al [52], Kondo et al [53], and Sadler et al [54] also reported similar results from vacant lot greening interventions.…”

Section: Community Gardens/greeningmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…As might be expected, the majority of all studies were correlational, and the quasi-experimental studies involving greening interventions were typically limited to community gardens and site greening interventions, likely due to the scale of these projects. Several notable exceptions include the street/walkway improvements research described by Locke et al [39] and the lot improvements performed by Branas et al in Philadelphia [11,34,40].…”

Section: Study Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This challenge may be related to the lack of a mutually agreed upon grounded theory linking independent, covariate, and depending variables. Relatedly, a prominent conclusion when reviewing the study findings is that, with the exception of a few studies (e.g., Branas et al [34]), there is insufficient work involving the qualitative analysis that might support the development of a unifying grounded theory.…”

Section: State Of the Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of Green Space on Violent Crime in Urban Environments: An Evidence Synthesis

Shepley

Sachs

Sadatsafavi

et al. 2019

IJERPH

105

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Can the presence of green space in urban environments reduce the frequency of violent crime? To ascertain the evidence on this topic, we conducted an in-depth literature review using the PRISMA checklist. The search parameters included US articles written in English and published since 2000. More than 30,000 potential paper titles were identified and ultimately, 45 papers were selected for inclusion. Green spaces typically comprised tree cover, parks and ground cover. Criminal behaviors typically included murder, assault, and theft. The majority of the research reviewed involved quantitative methods (e.g., comparison of green space area to crime data). We extracted multiple mechanisms from the literature that may account for the impact of green space on crime including social interaction and recreation, community perception, biophilic stress reduction, climate modulation, and spaces expressing territorial definition. Recommendations are made for future research, such as meta-analysis of existing data and the development of grounded theory through qualitative data-gathering methods. By providing evidence that access to nature has a mitigating impact on violence in urban settings, city governments and communities are empowered to support these interventions.

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Section: Patterns In Study Topics and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Findingsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Community Gardens/greeningmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Study Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: State Of the Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The Impact of Green Space on Violent Crime in Urban Environments: An Evidence Synthesis

Shepley

Sachs

Sadatsafavi

et al. 2019

IJERPH

105

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Effect of Abandoned Housing Interventions on Gun Violence, Perceptions of Safety, and Substance Use in Black Neighborhoods

et al. 2023

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ImportanceStructural racism has resulted in long-standing disinvestment and dilapidated environmental conditions in Black neighborhoods. Abandoned houses signal neglect and foster stress and fear for residents, weakening social ties and potentially contributing to poor health and safety.ObjectiveTo determine whether abandoned house remediation reduces gun violence and substance-related outcomes and increases perceptions of safety and use of outdoor space.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis cluster randomized trial was conducted from January 2017 to August 2020, with interventions occurring between August 2018 and March 2019. The study included abandoned houses across Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and surveys completed by participants living nearby preintervention and postintervention. Data analysis was performed from March 2021 to September 2022.InterventionsThe study consisted of 3 arms: (1) full remediation (installing working windows and doors, cleaning trash, weeding); (2) trash cleanup and weeding only; and (3) a no-intervention control.Main Outcomes and MeasuresDifference-in-differences mixed-effects regression models were used to estimate the effect of the interventions on multiple primary outcomes: gun violence (weapons violations, gun assaults, and shootings), illegal substance trafficking and use, public drunkenness, and perceptions of safety and time outside for nearby residents.ResultsA master list of 3265 abandoned houses was randomly sorted. From the top of this randomly sorted list, a total of 63 clusters containing 258 abandoned houses were formed and then randomly allocated to 3 study arms. Of the 301 participants interviewed during the preintervention period, 172 (57.1%) were interviewed during the postintervention period and were included in this analysis; participants were predominantly Black, and most were employed. Study neighborhoods were predominantly Black with high percentages of low-income households. Gun violence outcomes increased in all study arms, but increased the least in the full remediation arm. The full housing remediation arm, compared with the control condition, showed reduced weapons violations by −8.43% (95% CI, −14.68% to −1.19%), reduced gun assaults by −13.12% (95% CI, −21.32% to −3.01%), and reduced shootings by a nonsignificant −6.96% (95% CI, −15.32% to 3.03%). The trash cleanup arm was not associated with a significant differential change in any gun violence outcome. Instances of illegal substance trafficking and use and public drunkenness outcomes were not significantly affected by the housing remediation or trash cleanup treatment. Perceptions of neighborhood safety and time spent outside were unaffected by the intervention. The study arms did differ in a baseline characteristic and some preintervention trends, which raises questions regarding other potential nonmeasured differences between study arms that could have influenced estimates. No evidence of displacement of gun violence outcomes was found.Conclusions and RelevanceIn this cluster randomized controlled trial among low-income, predominantly Black neighborhoods, inexpensive, straightforward abandoned housing remediation was directly linked to significant relative reductions in weapons violations and gun assaults, and suggestive reductions in shootings.Trial Registrationisrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN14973997

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Effect of Greening Vacant Land on Mental Health of Community-Dwelling Adults

et al. 2018

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Key Points Question Does the greening of vacant urban land reduce self-reported poor mental health in community-dwelling adults? Findings In this cluster randomized trial of urban greening and mental health, 110 randomly sampled vacant lot clusters were randomly assigned to 3 study groups. Among 342 participants included in the analysis, feeling depressed significantly decreased by 41.5% and self-reported poor mental health showed a reduction of 62.8% for those living near greened vacant lots compared with control participants. Meaning The remediation of vacant and dilapidated physical environments, particularly in resource-limited urban settings, can be an important tool for communities to address mental health problems, alongside other patient-level treatments.

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Citywide cluster randomized trial to restore blighted vacant land and its effects on violence, crime, and fear

Cited by 330 publications

References 39 publications

The Impact of Green Space on Violent Crime in Urban Environments: An Evidence Synthesis

The Impact of Green Space on Violent Crime in Urban Environments: An Evidence Synthesis

Effect of Abandoned Housing Interventions on Gun Violence, Perceptions of Safety, and Substance Use in Black Neighborhoods

Effect of Greening Vacant Land on Mental Health of Community-Dwelling Adults

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