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More Trees Equals Less Crime

In Baltimore, a new study showed that a 10 percent increase in tree cover yielded at least a 12 percent decrease in crime.

BY: | July 2012



Want to reduce crime? Plant a tree. At least that’s according to a new study of neighborhoods in Baltimore, in which researchers from the University of Vermont mined geocoded crime data and overlaid it with high-res satellite images of Baltimore’s tree canopy. The study, published in the June issue of the journal Landscape and Urban Planning, showed that a 10 percent increase in tree cover yielded at least a 12 percent decrease in crime. The researchers controlled for socioeconomic factors, like the fact that wealthier neighborhoods tend to have leafier lanes. But the more-trees-less-crime relation still held. All of which raises the question: If Baltimore neighborhoods had more trees, would that have made The Wire really boring?

 


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Zach Patton
Zach Patton

Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach has written about a range of topics, including social policy issues and urban planning and design. Originally from Tennessee, he joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism

E-mail: zpatton@governing.com
Twitter: @governing

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