The Development of an Urban Greenway Trail System and Levels of Crime

Abstract

Opponents of proposed urban greenway trails frequently argue that the development of the trails will lead to increases in crime. Data on the opening of trail segments in Indianapolis, Indiana from 1995 to 2006 and the locations of individual violent and property crimes spanning the years before and after are used to examine the effect of the trails on levels of crime. Analyses included simple before-and-after comparisons, pooled-cross-sectional models controlling for time and socioeconomic characteristics, and fixed effects models. Some results suggested that the development of the trails actually produced in reductions in crime while others found no significant effects on crime. This makes it very clear that the trails did not result in increased levels of crime.

Keywords: trail, greenway, crime, Indianapolis