Fertile Ground for Community: Inner‐City Neighborhood Common Spaces

Kuo, Frances E.; Sullivan, W. C.; Coley, Rebekah Levine; Brunson, Liesette

doi:10.1023/a:1022294028903

Cited by 526 publications

(318 citation statements)

References 57 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

271

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…92 Green spaces may also affect health by providing spaces for interaction and shared interest, thereby promoting social capital and cohesion. [93][94][95][96] Density of urban tree canopy has been found to be a predictor of social capital. 96 In a public housing setting in Chicago, residents living in areas with green common space reported more use of common space and more social cohesion compared to those living in a barren, ungreen areas.…”

Section: Urban Greening As Place-based Public Health Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…96 In a public housing setting in Chicago, residents living in areas with green common space reported more use of common space and more social cohesion compared to those living in a barren, ungreen areas. 93 …”

Section: Urban Greening As Place-based Public Health Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…101 In another natural experiment, green space in a public housing development was associated with residents' increased sense of personal safety. 93 In addition to changes in perceptions of safety, multiple studies have examined the effects of urban greening on actual crime. Dense vegetation has been shown to promote crime by providing criminals a place to hide themselves or illegal goods.…”

Section: Urban Greening and Public Safetymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Nature-Based Strategies for Improving Urban Health and Safety

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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,

show abstract

Section: Urban Greening As Place-based Public Health Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Urban Greening As Place-based Public Health Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Urban Greening and Public Safetymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Nature-Based Strategies for Improving Urban Health and Safety

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Studies have observed associations between community gardening and health [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], social [6,9], and economic benefits [6,7,10], and gardening in general has been associated with cardiovascular [11,12] and mental [13][14][15] health benefits. Historically, backyard and community gardens have made substantial contributions to the food supply; World War II ''Victory Gardens'' have been credited with providing an estimated 40% of the U.S. vegetable supply [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Community Gardeners’ Knowledge and Perceptions of Soil Contaminant Risks

Duchemin¹

2016

Urban Horticulture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although urban community gardening can offer health, social, environmental, and economic benefits, these benefits must be weighed against the potential health risks stemming from exposure to contaminants such as heavy metals and organic chemicals that may be present in urban soils. Individuals who garden at or eat food grown in contaminated urban garden sites may be at risk of exposure to such contaminants. Gardeners may be unaware of these risks and how to manage them. We used a mixed quantitative/qualitative research approach to characterize urban community gardeners' knowledge and perceptions of risks related to soil contaminant exposure. We conducted surveys with 70 gardeners from 15 community gardens in Baltimore, Maryland, and semi-structured interviews with 18 key informants knowledgeable about community gardening and soil contamination in Baltimore. We identified a range of factors, challenges, and needs related to Baltimore community gardeners' perceptions of risk related to soil contamination, including low levels of concern and inconsistent levels of knowledge about heavy metal and organic chemical contaminants, barriers to investigating a garden site's history and conducting soil tests, limited knowledge of best practices for reducing exposure, and a need for clear and concise information on how best to prevent and manage soil contamination. Key informants discussed various strategies for developing and disseminating educational materials to gardeners. For some challenges, such as barriers to conducting site history and soil tests, some informants recommended city-wide interventions that bypass the need for gardener knowledge altogether.

show abstract

“…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%