Vacant and blighted urban land is a widespread and potentially risky environmental condition encountered by millions of people on a daily basis. About 15% of the land in US cities is deemed vacant or abandoned, an area roughly the size of Switzerland. In a citywide cluster randomized controlled trial, we investigated the effects of standardized, reproducible interventions that restore vacant land on the commission of violence, crime, and the perceptions of fear and safety. Quantitative and ethnographic analyses were included in a mixed-methods approach to more fully test and explicate our findings. A total of 541 randomly sampled vacant lots were randomly assigned into treatment and control study arms; outcomes from police and 445 randomly sampled participants were analyzed over a 38-month study period. Participants living near treated vacant lots reported significantly reduced perceptions of crime (−36.8%, P < 0.05), vandalism (−39.3%, P < 0.05), and safety concerns when going outside their homes (−57.8%, P < 0.05), as well as significantly increased use of outside spaces for relaxing and socializing (75.7%, P < 0.01). Significant reductions in crime overall (−13.3%, P < 0.01), gun violence (−29.1%, P < 0.001), burglary (−21.9%, P < 0.001), and nuisances (−30.3%, P < 0.05) were also found after the treatment of vacant lots in neighborhoods below the poverty line. Blighted and vacant urban land affects people’s perceptions of safety, and their actual, physical safety. Restoration of this land can be an effective and scalable infrastructure intervention for gun violence, crime, and fear in urban neighborhoods.

空置和枯萎的城市土地是每天数百万人遇到的广泛且具有潜在风险的环境条件。美国城市中约有15％的土地被视为闲置或荒废，面积相当于瑞士的面积。在一项全市范围内的集群随机对照试验中，我们调查了恢复空地的标准化可重复干预措施对暴力，犯罪，恐惧和安全感的影响。定量和人种学分析包含在混合方法中，可以更全面地测试和阐明我们的发现。总共541个随机抽样的空缺被随机分配到治疗和对照研究组中。在一个为期38个月的研究期内，对来自警方和445名随机抽样参与者的结果进行了分析。P <0.05），人为破坏（−39.3％，P <0.05）和出门在外时的安全隐患（−57.8％，P <0.05），并显着增加了使用室外空间进行放松和社交的比例（75.7％） ，P <0.01）。总体上显着减少犯罪（−13.3％，P <0.01），枪支暴力（−29.1％，P <0.001），入室盗窃（−21.9％，P <0.001）和滋扰（−30.3％，P在贫困线以下的社区对空地进行处理后，也发现了<0.05）。枯萎且空置的城市土地会影响人们对安全的感知以及他们实际的人身安全。恢复这片土地可以成为有效有效且可扩展的基础设施干预措施，以解决城市社区中的枪支暴力，犯罪和恐惧。