Tended vacant lots curb gunfire

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Planting grass and trees to create a park-like setting in vacant city lots reduced gun assaults and vandalism in Philadelphia, researchers found.

Senior author Charles C. Branas of the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, said in 1999 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society began a program to landscape vacant lots by removing trash and debris, grading the land, and planting grass and trees to create a park-like setting. They also installed low wooden post-and-rail fences around each lot to show it was cared for and to deter illegal dumping.

Several times a year, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society mowed the grass, tended trees and repaired fences.

Branas and his team analyzed the impact of this program for a decade, from 1999 to 2008, using a statistical design that considered various health and safety outcomes and numerous other factors occurring on and around vacant lots, before and after they were spruced up.

The study, published online in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found the improved lots were associated with significant reductions in gun assaults across all four sections of Philadelphia and significant reductions in vandalism.

"This is one of the first rigorous studies to show that reducing physical decay in neighborhoods -- through such efforts as cleaning up vacant lots -- reduces public safety crimes, demonstrating that healthier places are safer places," study co-author John MacDonald said in a statement. "Public policies that promote active living can also enhance personal safety."