We tested the effect of Urban Resources Initiative summer greenspace projects on both environmental expression of social norms of land use in residential abandoned lots and on the emotionality, violence perceptions and safety-related behavior of New Haven residents in August

We tested the effect of Urban Resources Initiative summer greenspace projects on both environmental expression of social norms of land use in residential abandoned lots and on the emotionality, violence perceptions and safety-related behavior of New Haven residents in August of 2000. URI greenspace projects were found to increase the vibrancy of social use of abandoned parcels in New Haven. At the same time, URI greenspace projects were found significantly associated with increased positive emotionality, decreased negative emotionality and increased perceptions of violence against others in the neighborhood. No significant association was found between safety-related hesitation or reported violence outside and URI greenspace projects. This study provides an assessment of the reliability and validity of the Environmental Expression on Abandoned Lots Scale. Introduction New Haven, CT is a city rife with residential abandonment. According to 1990 Census data and population projections based upon that data, in 2000, New Haven has a population of between 120,000–130,000 residents, yet the existing housing units can support 150,000. In the poorer communities, vacancy often translates into abandoned properties, including those structures which are boarded up, torched, vandalized, wrecked or thoroughly demolished. In the wake of the socio-economic forces driving abandonment, communities become hosts to private or city government-reclaimed properties absent care, investment or established social role. In this vacuum of fulfilled norms, abandoned residential lots become at once at liability and an opportunity for the occupants of the block on which they are located. Depending on the availability of social resources the “natural ecology” or “life course” of such property parcels can vary widely, from a makeshift children’s playground amid cast-off furniture, needles and automobiles, to spaces so overgrown with vegetation that the existence of any still standing structures within is a matter of speculation, to vegetable patches, to vibrant, park-like centers of community activity. Within this setting, community residents live out their daily lives, grapple with making ends meet, raising families and often attempt to create a sense of belonging. Many struggle to cope with violence, public prostitution or drug use within their neighborhoods. Some of this daily life plays out in forming social groups such as children’s safe houses, gardening groups or neighborhood block watch organizations. The Urban Resources Initiative (URI) is a New Haven non-profit land stewardship, environmental education and urban community forestry organization that dedicates a significant portion of its efforts to yearly, community greenspace projects on abandoned lots and streetscapes. Modeled on participatory rural appraisal methods, URI is approached by neighborhood organizations each fall to engage these projects for the following Spring/Summer cycle. While varying from site to site, and from year to year, each project incorporates several factors including: social outreach to residents by key residential contracts during the spring; invested responsibility for the project in a single community forestry intern who works closely with residents, bringing landscape design expertise and appraisal skills into a community dialogue concerning vision for the neighborhood; labor coordination and project scheduling; and material assistance including landscape design supplies (compost, perennials, trees, construction material), transport and hauling. Aims The principle aims of the Community Health and Urban Residential Lot Study (CHAURLS) are to test the hypothesized effects of community-based urban residential restoration projects in New Haven, Connecticut upon both social use of abandoned lots in the residential landscape and psychosocial measures of health and well being. during the summer of 2000. This quasi-experimental, observational study emphasizes use-related factors of the physical environment, especially along those dimensions bounded temporally and spatially by the abandoned residential lot. At the same time, health is examined in aspects of perceivedsafety, safety-related behavior and self-perceived positive and negative affect. The results of this study will inform further research, and provide indications for effective health promotion. Hypotheses URI summer greenspace projects are hypothesized to increase the environmental expression of social norms on residential abandoned lots. URI-related abandoned lot restoration and greenspace programs, degree of residential property abandonment, proximity to abandoned parcels and the character of abandoned residential lots are hypothesized to reduce self-perceived negative affect among residents; increase self-perceived positive affect; decrease self-reported safety-related behavior (hesitation to use outdoor neighborhood space); and decrease selfreported violence within a neighborhood.