The Surprising Link Between Crime, Quality Of Life & Trees. (Yes, Trees)
Chicagoist (August 14, 2017)

When discussing infrastructure and how it might impact, say, health, poverty or the economy, there's often a lot of attention paid to man-made things like streets, sidewalk, transportation or buildings. The Chicago Region Trees Initiative asks Chicagoans to look up and consider the vastly underrated role of trees.

There are some obvious ways that trees make life better: they offer shade (which reduces heating bills), they clean up the air and water, they prevent flooding and generally they just make an area feel nicer. That last one sounds a little touchy-feely, but there's research showing that trees can actually help to reduce crime and improve the quality of life for people who spend time around them, according to Atlas Obscura. That's why the Chicago Regional Tree Initiative and Morton Arboretum thought it was important to survey the canopy around the Chicago area. So while the federal government was counting the number of people in 2010, the CRTI was conducting a tree census.

Read the full article here.