The broken windows theory highlighted how tidying up vacant and derelict areas in a city can have a significant impact on reducing crime and disorder. A recent study from the University of Michigan comes to a similar conclusion, and shows that when vacant spaces are cleaned and repurposed, crime and violence in those neighborhoods also fall.

The findings emerged after a three-year study that examined the so-called Busy Streets Theory and the greening hypothesis. These suggest that when community residents are engaged in repurposing vacant plots and generally cleaning up an area, it results in lower violence and crime.

Safer neighborhoods

“Our results suggest that when local organizations and institutions collaborate with residents on community improvement, those efforts can help create safer neighborhoods,” the researchers say.

They worked with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp and gathered data from around 2,100 different street segments to examine the impact of community-engaged vacant lot greening.

The results suggest that the segments around vacant lots that were cared for by community residents saw a significant reduction in violent crime compared to segments that received professional maintenance or where no care at all was seen. Indeed, in these latter areas, violent crime actually rose.

“Greening interventions driven by community residents can be readily scalable to cover large areas, affect population-level change for improving community health, and prevent violence over time,” the researchers conclude. “Based on our research, we have found that resident engagement is vital to the sustainability of greening as it is associated with enhanced acceptability of programs, long-term community buy-in and safer streets.”