Great Rivers Greenway Literature Review on Crime and Green Space

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Literature Review on Crime and Green Space

International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning •

Urban greenspace linked to lower crime risk across 301 major U.S. cities o This study demonstrated that, on average across 301 U.S. cities, increased UGS at the neighborhood level is associated with decreased violent and property crime risk across almost every urban context. Unlike many previous studies focusing on single cities, the multi-level, multi-city analysis adds to other work on this topic and accounted for heterogeneity in social and criminological context across urban areas that might influence the relationship between greenspace and crime. o Research extends analysis of the crime and urban greenspace relationship across 301 cities in the contiguous USA. o Applies uniform approach accounting for varying contexts to a broad sample of cities o Greater amounts of greenspace are associated with lower property crime risk. o Greater greenspace is associated with lower violent crime risk in all but 3 cities.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health •

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The Impact of Green Space on Violent Crime in Urban Environment: An Evident Synthesis [December 2019] o Literature Review – reviewed 45 papers ▪ Recommendation more research and meta-analysis ▪ The presence of parks and other green spaces reduces urban crime. ▪ Good public spaces support desirable behaviors and inappropriate public spaces provide the opportunity for increases in criminal behavior, which can be economically costly to society [1,2]. Additionally, safe, accessible green spaces enhance physiological and psychological human health and well-being[3].

Branas, C.C.; Kondo, M.C.; Murphy, S.M.; South, E.C.; Polsky, D.; MacDonald, J.M. Urban Blight Remediation as a Cost-Beneficial Solution to Firearm Violence. Am. J. Public Health 2016, 106, 2158–2164. [CrossRef] 2 Heaton, P. Hidden in Plain Sight: What Cost-of-Crime Research Can Tell Us about Investing in Police; RAND: Santa Monica, CA, USA, 2010. 3 Bratman, G.N.; Anderson, C.B.; Berman, M.G.; Cochran, B.; de Vries, S.; Flanders, J.; Folke, C.; Frumkin, H.; Gross, J.J.; Hartig, T.; et al. Nature and Mental Health: An Ecosystem Service Perspective. Sci. Adv. 2019, 5, eaax0903. [CrossRef]; Frumkin, H.; Bratman, G.N.; Breslow, S.J.; Cochran, B.; Kahn, P.H., Jr.; Lawler, J.J.; Levin, P.S.; Tandon, P.S.; Varanasi, U.; Wolf, K.L.; et al. Nature Contact and Human Health: A Research Agenda. Environ. Health


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