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Community Gardens as Urban Greening: Cutting Crime and Improving Wellbeing

Date: Jan 7, 2021
Author(s): Nicole Capozziello
Topic(s): Criminal Justice: General, Environment: Environmental Justice, Environment: General, Environment: Land Use, Environment: Localism, Environment: Parks, Gardens, and Green Spaces
Type: Policy Brief
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This policy brief shares vacant land statistics in Buffalo, highlights Philadelphia as a vacant property transformation case study, and makes the case for community gardens as the ideal form of urban greening for Buffalo.

Nicole Capozziello, MSW, is a doctoral candidate in the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. Her research looks at criminal justice reform, the myriad ways in which community gardens can be used to build up communities, and storytelling as a means for social change. She is also a freelance writer and activist. She completed this policy brief as a result of her 2019-2020 field placement with Grassroots Gardens of Western NY and the Greening Vacant Lots research proposal on the Buffalo Commons Research Exchange.