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A study of 541 vacant lots in the United States demonstrated a 29% decrease in gun violence and 13.3% decrease in overall crime in neighborhoods below the poverty line after the implementation of inexpensive...

Branas, Charles C., Eugenia South, Michelle C. Kondo, Bernadette C. Hohl, Philippe Bourgois, Douglas J. Wiebe, and John M. MacDonald. (March 2018) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 115(12): 2946-2951. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1718503115

Community gardens can increase civic engagement in nearby residents. In a survey of 5,188 people from 26 communities across the United States, respondents who had a community garden within a 10-minute walk of their...

Center for Active Design. “The Assembly Civic Engagement Survey: Key Findings and Design Implications.” (2017): 28. https://centerforactivedesign.org/assembly-civic-engagement-survey.

A study of tree cover in and around the California residences of 7,910 participants suggests that increased tree cover in a neighborhood is related to better overall health, particularly lower rates of obesity and...

Ulmer, Jared M, Kathleen L. Wolf, Desiree R. Backman, Raymond L. Tretheway, Cynthia JA Blain, Jarlath PM O’Neil-Dunne, and Lawrence D. Frank. (November 2016). Multiple health benefits of urban tree canopy: The mounting evidence for a green prescription. Health & Place 42: 54-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2016.08.011

In a large, international study of urban residents, researchers found that only access to green space and recreational areas made a difference in reducing neighborhood socioeconomic health inequalities, while...

Mitchell, Richard J., Elizabeth A. Richardson, Niamh K. Shortt, and Jamie R. Pearce. (2015). Neighborhood Environments and Socioeconomic Inequalities in Mental Well-Being. American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

A 5-year longitudinal study in Great Britain found that moving to a greener area not only improves people's mental health, but that the effect is sustained for a long time. Individuals who moved to greener areas had...

Alcock, Ian, Mathew P. White, Benedict W. Wheeler, Lora E. Fleming, and Michael H. Depledge. (2014). Longitudinal effects on mental health of moving to greener and less green urban areas. Environmental Science & Technology, 48(2), 1247-1255.

A nationwide analysis in the Netherlands suggests that feelings of social safety are generally higher in areas with larger amounts of vegetated space. Highly urban areas are the exception, where reduced visibility...

Maas, Jolanda, Peter Spreeuwenberg, Marijke Van Winsum-Westra, Robert A. Verheij, Sjerp de Vries, and Peter P. Groenewegen. (2009). Is green space in the living environment associated with people’s feelings of social safety? Environment and Planning, A 41(7), 1763-1777.

Conservation subdivision design, a greenfield development practice that utilizes site analysis methods to preserve significant portions of environmentally valuable land, was shown to produce a higher 5-year...

Bowman, Troy, Jan Thompson, and Joe Colletti. (2009). Valuation of open space and conservation features in residential subdivisions. Journal of Environmental Management 90(1), 321-330.

In a Cedar Rapids, Iowa study, 66% of survey respondents living in both traditional and conservation subdivisions were willing to pay a premium for conservation features, at an average of $4,343.

Bowman, Troy, Jan Thompson, and Joe Colletti. (2009). Valuation of open space and conservation features in residential subdivisions. Journal of Environmental Management 90(1), 321-330.

The perceived health of residents increases as the amount of green space increases within 3 km of their homes, regardless of how urban the respondents' homes are. 15.5% of respondents living near the lowest amount...

Maas, Jolanda, Robert A. Verheij, Peter P. Groenewegen, Sjerp De Vries, and Peter Spreeuwenberg. “Green Space, Urbanity, and Health: How Strong Is the Relation?” Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 60, no. 7 (July 2006): 587–92. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2005.043125.

Evidence from studies in inner-city Chicago links trees and grassy areas to stronger ties among neighbors, a greater sense of safety, healthier patterns of play in children, more use of neighborhood common spaces...

Kuo, Frances E. (2003). The role of arboriculture in a healthy social ecology. Journal of Arboriculture. 29(3), 148-155.

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