Effect of Remediating Blighted Vacant Land on Shootings

A Citywide Cluster Randomized Trial

Bibliographic Data

ID11028733
AuthorsRuth Moyer (Ruth Moyer, John M. MacDonald, and Greg Ridgeway are with the Department of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Charles C. Branas is with the Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY.), Ruth A Moyer (0000-0002-0835-0123, City University of New York), John M Macdonald (0000-0001-6714-8905, Ruth Moyer, John M. MacDonald, and Greg Ridgeway are with the Department of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Charles C. Branas is with the Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY.), Greg Ridgeway (0000-0001-6911-0804, Ruth Moyer, John M. MacDonald, and Greg Ridgeway are with the Department of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Charles C. Branas is with the Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY.), Charles C Branas (0000-0002-6364-2030, Ruth Moyer, John M. MacDonald, and Greg Ridgeway are with the Department of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Charles C. Branas is with the Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY.)
Year2019
Volume109
Issue1
Pages140-144
Publication date2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048
PublisherAmerican Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2105/ajph.2018.304752
PMID30496003
OpenAlexW2902087929
LanguageEN
Citations received29
References cited21

Objectives. To determine if remediating blighted vacant urban land reduced firearm shooting incidents resulting in injury or death. Methods. We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial in which we assigned 541 randomly selected vacant lots in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to 110 geographically contiguous clusters and randomly assigned these clusters to a greening intervention, a less-intensive mowing and trash cleanup intervention, or a no-intervention control condition. The random assignment to the trial occurred in April and June 2013 and lasted until March 2015. In a difference-in-differences analysis, we assessed whether the 2 treatment conditions relative to the control condition reduced firearm shootings around vacant lots. Results. During the trial, both the greening intervention, −6.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] = −10.6%, −2.7%), and the mowing and trash cleanup intervention, −9.2% (95% CI = −13.2%, −4.8%), significantly reduced shootings. There was no evidence that the interventions displaced shootings into adjacent areas. Conclusions. Remediating vacant land with inexpensive, scalable methods, including greening or minimal mowing and trash cleanup, significantly reduced shootings that result in serious injury or death. Public Health Implications. Cities should experiment with place-based interventions to develop effective firearm violence–reduction strategies. Trial Registration. This trial was registered with the International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (study ID ISRCTN92582209; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN92582209 )

Cluster (spacecraft) · Environmental health · Injury prevention · Occupational safety and health · Poison control · Randomized controlled trial · Sociology · Suicide prevention · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Demography · Fire effects on ecosystems · Gun Ownership and Violence Research · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Medicine · Gerontology

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