Urban Greening: An Alternative Mechanism to Address Public Health and Safety in Underserved Communities

Abstract

Community safety is increasingly understood to be intertwined with public health and quality of life. However, health and safety are often appraised and budgeted independently, impeding the ability of local governments to identify efficient interventions to benefit communities. Urban greening is widely acknowledged to improve public health but is also a cost-effective public safety measure associated with reductions in aggression, violence, and crime. Current research suggests that the physiological and psychosocial factors that mediate the benefits of green spaces fall at the intersection of health and safety. Critically, historically marginalized, low-income, and over-policed neighborhoods are also typically those that most acutely lack urban greenery, exacerbating substandard health and safety outcomes. Investing in green spaces is therefore a promising solution to mitigate existing disparities across both public health and safety sectors. We propose that Los Angeles prioritize urban greenery in underserved neighborhoods as a public safety measure and reallocate funding from law enforcement and incarceration budgets to small-scale changes in green spaces (e.g., sidewalk planting and park maintenance). Green spaces are a promising alternative to traditional public safety methods and would improve the health and safety of disadvantaged neighborhoods, mitigate the harms of heat and pollution, and begin to counteract a history of structurally racist neighborhood policies.