Can Restoring Vacant Lots Improve Adolescent Health Disparities?

People living near vacant lots and abandoned buildings exhibit poor health; fortunately, recent research has shown that when vacant lots are greened and restored, the health of residents greatly improves. To date, most of this research has focused on adults. For our SCIBAR, we will expand on this body of evidence to determine whether and how restoring vacant lots can mitigate health inequalities among disadvantaged adolescents, whose health and well-being are strongly influenced by neighborhood factors. As part of this study, we will: 1) build a sharable database containing key characteristics of restored and unrestored vacant lots; 2) conduct a mixed-methods longitudinal study on changes in adolescent health associated with exposure to vacant lot restoration, 3) embed a cost-effectiveness study to determine the impact of different lot restoration programs on youth crime and violence, mental health, and food insecurity; and 4) develop and disseminate a blueprint for reducing adolescent health disparities through vacant lot restoration programs that can be adapted for different U.S. municipalities. While Baltimore City currently has over 18,000 vacant lots and 17,000 abandoned buildings, the City has developed a plan to ‘clean and green’ vacant lots in neighborhoods with large concentrations of vacancy. This provides us with a timely opportunity to explore the impact of vacant lot restoration on the health of adolescents living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, with findings that can be used to develop long-term strategies for improving adolescent health equity.

Primary Investigators

• Kristin Mmari, DrPH
  Population, Family, and Reproductive Health,
  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Co-Investigators & Partners

• Beth Marshall
  Population, Family, and Reproductive Health,
  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Frank Curriero
  Epidemiology,
  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Tamar Mendelson
  Mental Health,
  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Megan Latshaw
  Environmental Health and Engineering,
  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Jamie Harding
  Environmental Health and Engineering,
  Johns Hopkins University
• Y. Natalia Alfonso
  Population, Family, and Reproductive Health,
  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Seema Iyer
  Baltimore Neighborhood Indicator Alliance
• Dexter Locke
  United States Forest Service
• Michelle Kondo
  United States Forest Service
• Morgan Grove
  United States Forest Service
• Naomi Sachs
  University of Maryland
• Katie Lautar
  Baltimore Green Space
• Karl Schrass
  National Recreation and Park Association