Xinyi Zhang
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Research Mentor(s): Josh Newell
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Center for Sustainable Systems / SNRE
Program: CG
Session: Session 3 (11:00am – 11:50am)
Authors: Xinyi Zhang, Jason Hawes, Josh Newell
Abstract
Urban gardening has a variety of effects on communities, but the relationship between gardening and crime is not clear and has seldom been quantified. For this study, we mapped community gardens across Detroit using QGIS. To relate the establishment of these gardens with crime incidence, we selected 21 urban gardens established between 2011 and 2014. Using police report records from the City of Detroit open data portal, we identified crimes that occurred within walking distance (800m) of a garden before and after it opened. Through excel and R, we counted how many crimes occurred in the three year window of the study near gardens established in different years. We then conducted a qualitative assessment of a small group of gardens to triangulate the effect of gardening on crime. The longitudinal assessment offers insight into the relationship between gardening and crime in a neighborhood and provided a quantitative basis for follow-up case study. This research has implications for urban planning policy, especially as cities are moving towards “green” growth plans and must incorporate sustainable crime prevention methods into city planning.
