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

Mardelle Shepley, Naomi Sachs, Hessam Sadatsafavi, Christine Fournier and Kati Peditto
Additional contact information
Mardelle Shepley: Department of Design & Environmental Analysis, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Naomi Sachs: Department of Design & Environmental Analysis, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Hessam Sadatsafavi: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA
Christine Fournier: Mann Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Kati Peditto: Department of Design & Environmental Analysis, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 24, 1-19

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: violent crime; urban parks; greenspace; green space; scoping review; systematic review; literature review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/5119/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/5119/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:24:p:5119-:d:298051

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().