Promoting environmental justice is central to improving safety in communities, as well as addressing long-standing racial inequities. Across the United States, many more people die each year from air pollution than from all homicides combined. Our poorest communities are those most exposed to climate-related disasters. Access to green spaces and restoring vacant land have all been shown to reduce many types of violent crime. Green jobs create financial security now while building environmental safety now and in the future.  These environmental investments have been shown to improve public safety. Improving air quality has been shown to decrease crime rates. And access to green spaces and restoring vacant land have all been shown to reduce many types of violent crime. 

The bottom-line is simple: investing in environmental goals can help advance racial and economic justice while also creating a more sustainable planet. 

Over the years, research has shown that basic investments in built design—in streetlights, parks, road design, public transportation, and addressing vacant lots—has significant implications for community safety. Decades of criminology research has found a link between built design and residents’ safety. This growing body of literature should influence how urban planners and local policymakers leverage our most basic resource: the design of our physical space.

Overall, the design of urban spaces has been shown to have crime-reducing effects. Recent studies in multiple jurisdictions, including Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Youngstown, have found that maintaining green space reduces certain types of crime. A rigorous study found that restoring vacant land in cities significantly improves both local residents’ perception of their safety, as well as their actual physical safety. Restoration projects produced large reductions in crime, including a 30 percent reduction in gun violence. Increasing public transportation options for residents has a direct effect on economic opportunities, while reducing certain types of crime, and reducing traffic congestion may lower rates of domestic violence in areas with high congestion. In New York City, research demonstrated that streetlights can reduce “index crimes”—including murder, robbery, aggravated assault, and some property crimes—by more than a third. And improving streets and sidewalks so that they enhance pedestrian safety has been shown to reduce crime. 

In short, the evidence makes clear that by carefully considering our physical space and letting community members drive improvements that they feel to keep them safe, we can make significant progress toward reducing violence and other harms.