Previous research has shown that trees and other roadside vegetation can mitigate adverse environmental conditions on urban street corridors, and, in turn, positively contribute to pedestrian perceptions of safety and walkability. In this study, pedestrian surveys (n = 181) were collected from three Massachusetts post-industrial cities to understand if street trees moderate pedestrian perceptions of safety. Three street tree conditions – sparse street tree abundance, mature street trees, and new street tree plantings – were compared as study settings. Several methods were used to correlate perceived safety with street trees and sociodemographic variables, including repeated measures and between-group ANOVA, qualitative open-coding, exploratory factor analysis, and simple moderation analysis. This study did not find empirical evidence that street trees influence people's perceived safety, nor that street trees substantively contribute to feelings of safety while walking. These findings suggest that pedestrians do not have universal experiences of safety in walking environments, and different sociocultural backgrounds may contribute to diverging experiences of safety or fear when walking. Our research supports previous findings on the ways in which pedestrians value street trees; this can be extended to municipal or regional Complete Streets guidance and technical assistance programs.

先前的研究表明，树木和其他路边植被可以缓解城市街道走廊上的不利环境条件，进而对行人的安全性和步行性产生积极的影响。在这项研究中，从马萨诸塞州的三个后工业城市收集了行人调查 (n = 181)，以了解行道树是否能调节行人的安全感。三种行道树条件——稀疏行道树丰度、成熟行道树和新种植行道树——作为研究设置进行了比较。使用多种方法将感知安全与行道树和社会人口变量相关联，包括重复测量和组间方差分析、定性开放编码、探索性因素分析和简单的调节分析。这项研究没有发现行道树影响人们感知安全的经验证据，也没有发现行道树对步行时的安全感有实质性影响。这些发现表明，行人在步行环境中没有普遍的安全体验，不同的社会文化背景可能会导致步行时的安全或恐惧体验不同。我们的研究支持先前关于行人重视行道树的方式的发现；这可以扩展到市政或区域完整街道指导和技术援助计划。不同的社会文化背景可能会导致步行时的安全或恐惧体验不同。我们的研究支持先前关于行人重视行道树的方式的发现；这可以扩展到市政或区域完整街道指导和技术援助计划。不同的社会文化背景可能会导致步行时的安全或恐惧体验不同。我们的研究支持先前关于行人重视行道树的方式的发现；这可以扩展到市政或区域完整街道指导和技术援助计划。