The influence of street trees on pedestrian perceptions of safety: Results from environmental justice areas of Massachusetts, U.S.

Abstract

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.