Green Streets or Mean Streets

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Human-Environment Research Laboratories

Hang the expense, plant trees, shrubs, and anything green and alive.

"Green Streets, Not Mean Streets
Vegetation May Cut Crime in the Inner City

Since days of yore, authorities have cleared trees and shrubbery from crime prone areas to eliminate hiding places for criminal activity. In 1285, King Edward I decreed in the Statute of Winchester that highways be cleared by a width of 200 feet on either side, "…so that no cover for malefactors should be allowed…" [1] Seven centuries later, the removal of greenery to deter crime is a practice that continues.

In America's inner cities, crime is widespread while greenery is scarce. In urban settings even small patches of green are oases from the harsh surroundings. The removal of green where so little exists is keenly felt.
While some studies showed that vegetation is related to crime and fear of crime, a study in an urban neighborhood suggested the opposite.

University of Illinois researchers Frances E. Kuo and William C. Sullivan tested the idea that in the inner city, barren spaces are safer than green ones. hey compared crime rates for inner city apartment buildings with varying amounts of vegetation and found that the greener the surroundings, the fewer crimes occurred against people and property. Far from shielding criminals, such greenery seems to shield against them.

Why Greenery May Cut Crime
No studies have been done to determine whether crime rates are actually higher in densely vegetated areas. Two studies have shown that criminals use dense vegetation such as shrubs, underbrush and dense woods to conceal their activities. Other studies have found that dense vegetation in some settings evokes fear and fear of crime, especially when it blocks views. However, not all greenery blocks views.

Widely-spaced high canopy trees, flowers, grass and low growing shrubs do not block views, shield crime, or create the type of surroundings that promote fear. In the inner city, vegetation that allows for visibility seems to promote safety. Factors combine to explain why this is so.

We're watching and we care. Green spaces bring people together outdoors. The conspicuous presence of people increases surveillance, which discourages criminals. More people outdoors means that threatening behavior is more likely to be observed. At the same time, potential criminals sense that they are being noticed and watched. The green and groomed appearance of an apartment building is itself a cue that residents and owners care about a property, and watch over it and each other.

We're calm. A large body of research indicates that time spent in nature lessens mental fatigue, inattentiveness, irritability and impulsivity?-behaviors that psychologists recognize as precursors to violence. Greenery helps people to relax and renew, reducing aggression and increasing calm.

About the study
The study by Kuo and Sullivan was the first to use police crime reports to examine the relationship between crime rates and vegetation in the inner city. Analyzed were two years of police data on property and violent crimes for 98 apartment buildings in a public housing development in Chicago. Buildings included in the study were similar in size, number of residents and amount of common outdoor space.

Residents were predominantly African American, unemployed and receiving public assistance. They were generally uninvolved in landscaping decisions and their apartments were randomly assigned, so no relationship existed between the residents and the amount of greenery in the space outside their home.

Aerial and ground-level photos of the residences' common outdoor areas were used to record the amounts of greenery, which were then assessed and rated on a scale ranging from barren to fully covered by green tree canopy.

Chicago Police Department year-end Uniform Crime Reports were analyzed. The reports summarized the specific crimes that were reported for each address.

Green Streets, Not Mean Streets
Compared with apartment buildings that had little or no greenery, buildings with high levels of greenery had 52 percent fewer total crimes including 48 percent fewer property crimes and 56 percent fewer violent crimes. Buildings with medium amounts of greenery had 42 percent fewer total crimes, including 40 percent fewer property crimes and 44 percent fewer violent crimes. Apartment buildings landscaped with greenery were clearly less crime prone than barren ones.

The results support prior studies that found that inner city residents who live in green surroundings experience fewer quality of life crimes such as littering and graffiti, and fewer incivilities such as noisy and disruptive neighbors. The results are also consistent with prior studies in which people reported feeling safer in residential areas that contained greenery.
"In poor, urban neighborhoods it appears that greenery not only creates a better environment, it also creates a safer environment," said Frances E. Kuo, assistant professor and co-director of the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. "The meanest streets are not the greenest streets."

Green spaces are gathering places that create close-knit communities, improve well-being and in doing so, increase safety. In inner city neighborhoods, tall trees and open, grassy areas that preserve visibility are recommended as potential crime deterrents.

Ideas for property owners, city residents, and public safety officers

§ Be thoughtful before removing trees or greenery for security reasons. Greenery that preserves visibility may promote safety.
§ Landscape urban apartment buildings with tall trees, grass, groundcover, low growing shrubs and flowers. Such spaces unite neighbors and may inhibit criminals.
§ Spend time daily in the green outdoors. Doing so helps to dissolve anxiety and tension.
§ Support tree planting and care in the inner city. In harsh environments, a little green goes a long way.

The information in this bulletin is from Environment and Crime in the Inner City: Does Vegetation Reduce Crime? Environment and Behavior. Vol. 33 No. 3, May 2001. 343-367.
© Copyright 2001 Sage Publications, Inc. "