  We examine the effect of the Philadelphia LandCare (PLC) vacant lot greening
initiative on crime and the extent to which surrounding land uses and business
types moderate this intervention. We rely on a propensity score matching
analysis to account for substantial differences in demographic, economic, land
use, and business characteristics between greened and ungreened vacant lots. We
estimate larger and more significant crime reductions around vacant lots that
are greened in our matched pairs analysis compared to unmatched analyses. The
effects of vacant lot greening on crime are larger in areas with high
residential and low commercial land use and are moderated by the presence of
different types of nearby businesses.
