Take a Green Bite out of Crime!

What is green space?

According to Frontiers in Environmental Science, urban green space (UGS) is defined as urban land, partly or completely covered with grass, trees, shrubs, or other vegetation. Urban Green Space includes parks, community gardens and cemeteries, but also rooftop gardens and vertical gardens, meadows and woods. Green spaces bring about not only environmental benefits, but physical and mental health benefits to its users as well.

So what does that have to do with crime?

Crime perpetually exists within urban areas via the simple notion that where there are more people, there will be more crime as well. When properly maintained, UGS's serve as a useful tool in the reduction of crimes. However, there are several instances where the poor design and improper maintenance of a green space may result in more crime. There are many intricacies that exist within the relationship between green space and crime.

As we can see, there is little identifying information to assess variation of crime across states. However, as you zoom in, you can expect to find the highest rates of crime deep within urban areas.

Similarly, green spaces follow this same trend. The highest concentration of parks are in the country's most populous cities. It is difficult to determine a relationship between green space and crime on a state-wide basis, so must take a deeper look into specific urban areas. We will follow two of America's most renowned cities, New York City and San Francisco, each of which contain a high concentration of green space.

New York City follows the relationship we would expect (and hope) to find between green space and crime. In NYC, areas with greater investments in green space tend to see a reduction in crime as well.

San Francisco, on the other hand, portrays the opposite relationship. In a recent study, it was found that San Francisco was one of a select few cities where proximity to green space actually resulted in an increase in crime. It was found that violent crime was 28% to 64% higher in neighborhoods adjacent to parks than in neighborhoods located a mile from the same parks.

Even though the most sizeable parks in figures 4 and 6 both are shaded a dark red, it is important to take a look at the surrounding areas. In Central Park, the surrounding blocks have a noticeably lower crime index, whereas the high crime index from Golden Gate Park hardly waivers, only truly doing so you venture south. There are also other green spaces in figure 4 (Riverside Park) where the park itself and its surrounding blocks have a below average crime index. Clearly there is a different relationship present.

Before diving into these two cities, it is important to examine what makes green space a valuable use of land in the first place. Apart from aesthetic and environmental benefits, the unsung hero of green spaces is its ability to improve mental health. This benefit is further reinforced by their consistent ability to reduce crime.

This study notes that people living closer to urban areas have 55% less chance of having psychiatric disorders like stress, anxiety, and substance abuse. Further, green spaces near capital centers have the greatest impact on health out of all types of neighborhoods.

By promoting factors that improve health, this subsequently has a positive impact on the reduction of crime as well.

Here we can see that those with a mental health diagnosis, unfortunately are more likely to commit crime. This study found that low-income men with prior mental health histories were almost three times more likely to have been incarcerated by age 24 than those that had never received a diagnosis. There is almost no disparity at the age of 17, but it grows significantly as these men age.

In the year 2020, 17% of the population aged 12-25 experienced a depressive episode, that number was 13% in 2017. Only about 8% experienced one in the year 2011, and as we can see from the graph overall, this continues to trend upwards as we move into the future.

Last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that aimed to help children with private insurance access mental health care at school, saying the program would cost too much. If urban areas in California, San Francisco in particular, want to decrease crime rates in relation to green space, this is not the correct approach.

Conversely, in New York, a state where green space is associated with reduced crime, has consistently allocated resources into mental health. The new state budget for the fiscal year through March 31, 2023, allocates $4.7 billion in operating funds to the state Office of Mental Health — a bump of nearly $800 million from the previous fiscal year.

New York City has not only done a fantastic job at supporting the health of its citizens, but the health of its green spaces as well.

In 1985 Bryant Park in Manhattan was closed for a massive renovation effort that included the addition of activities and events there. When it reopened in 1992, police reported a 92% decrease in local crime. A study out of the University of Virginia found that "properly designed and maintained outdoor green space has the potential to reduce violent crime and gun violence, to make communities safer and keep residents healthier,.. Conversely, green space that is poorly designed and inadequately maintained can help crime take root and spread.

We can see why green spaces reduce crime in New York City, and not San Francisco. As discussed earlier, neighborhoods with higher investment in public green space see an average of 213 fewer felonies per year in NYC. Conversely, a study showed that in its violent crime model, the largest effect was in San Francisco (IRR = 0.34, p< 0.05), where being 1 km (approximately a 10 minute walk (Harnik & Martin, 2016)) farther from a park was associated with a 66% decrease in violent crime. In other words, the farther from a park you are in San Francisco, you are 2/3 less likely to experience a violent crime, which is jarring.

New York City and San Francisco present different paths in reducing crime via green spaces. NYC has invested considerable funds in the maintenance, design, development and protection of its green spaces, while promoting mental health. At the same time, San Francisco has failed to allocate its resources in order to effectively reduce crime through green spaces. It is important to note that allocation into green space does not automatically result in reduced crime, but the effects that UGS's have on mental health and crime should not be underestimated.

What do you Think Urban Areas Should Commit to?

From 2014-2021, the major seven crimes in NYC have declined 11%, but 2021 saw a 5% increase from the year prior. Will NYC's crime continue to increase, and can funding of green spaces help combat this? Crime is up 8% from last year through Sept. 18 in San Francisco, and San Franciscans believe that crime is worsening. There is little indication that crime will be reduced here, but perhaps focus on green space can aid the city's crime issue. Should San Francisco, and cities of the like, be focusing more on green space?