Research summary: Environment and Crime in the Inner City: Does Vegetation Reduce Crime?

This article reports on research conducted in an inner-city neighborhood of Chicago to examine the relationship between crime and vegetation. Statistical analyses of the data revealed that, as hypothesized, there was a negative relationship between density of vegetation and the three crime indices; in other words, the greener a building’s environs, the lower the number of reported crimes. In fact, buildings that had the densest coverage of vegetation reported 52% fewer total crimes when compared with buildings that had the least green surroundings.

This research summary, prepared by the AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice in (AAJ) 2012, includes implications for design practice and is adapted from:
Authors: Kuo, Frances E., professor and co-director of the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; & Sullivan, William C., associate professor and co-director of the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Article Title: Environment and Crime in the Inner City: Does Vegetation Reduce Crime?
Publisher: Sage Publications Inc.
Publication: Environment and Behavior
Publication Type: Peer-reviewed
Date of Publication: 2001
Volume: 33
Issue: 3
Pages: 343-367
Country of Study: USA
Search Related Keywords: Crime; Crime Prevention; Landscape; Vegetation