Why Community Garden?

 Community gardens have many benefits in addition to increased access to fresh and healthy produce. Studies have shown that crime reduction can be a result of community gardens! Check out this interesting article from the most recent Livable Places newsletter from the Local Government Commission:

Community Greening as a Crime Prevention Strategy: Some years ago, the City of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods discovered that their community gardening program, called the P-Patch, was not only helping residents grow their own food and beautifying vacant lots, it was reducing crime. Today, some communities around the country are also observing this phenomenon as they turn to community gardens to increase food security and reduce obesity.

Finally researchers are documenting what others have been simply observing over the years. A before and after of community greening, undertaken by the University of Pennsylvania, recently found that greening public spaces reduced the number of assaults with a deadly weapon.

Over a period of 10 years the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has reclaimed 4,400 vacant lots in the City of Philadelphia - planting trees and gardens and surrounding the plots with 3-foot fences. University researchers measured the crime rates in the areas surrounding the renewed lots and found a significant number of reduced shootings. Charles Branas, the epidemiologist who released the study on the project late last year observed, "People just became more in touch with their neighbors. People felt more connected to one another." He found that, as a result, people in the neighborhood began to call the police for minor disturbances, something they hadn't done before.

Over a decade ago, University of Illinois researchers noted that simply providing trees could reduce violent behavior. They studied residents in a 28-building, public housing project in Chicago, comparing the observations of residents of buildings surrounded only by concrete and asphalt to those that offered trees. They found that outdoor spaces with trees were used significantly more often than identical spaces without trees; and residents of the buildings with trees experienced less violence. Researchers postulated that the stronger sense of community resulting from residents having a pleasant place to gather was responsible for the reduction in violent crime rates. The study (PDF) concluded that, "urban forests are not mere amenities - they are a basic part of the infrastructure of any city, as necessary as streets, sewers and electricity."

The relationship between trees and violent behavior was studied again, just this year, when University of Vermont professors looked at the crime reduction impacts of simply planting trees in and around the City of Baltimore. This time the researchers had access to sophisticated tools not readily available in the year 2000. University of Vermont researchers used GIS maps to overlay crime data with tree cover. They controlled for socioeconomic factors such as race and income levels, and the variables associated with tree cover - including ruralness, and population density.

The results of the study, published this June, revealed that for every 10 percent increase in trees there was a 12 percent decrease in crime.  Austin Troy, the lead author, noted that a well-intended bunch of trees sends a warning to would-be robbers that stoop-sitters and dog-walkers are watching. "If I was a criminal, that's probably not where I'd want to be" he notes. 

To view the rest of the newsletter or to check out the Local Government Commission website visit www.lgc.org