Report: American Downtowns Safer Than You Think

According to a study from the Brookings Institution, fears about safety in U.S. downtowns are not based in fact. As Jake Blumgart explains in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the authors “ found that across the four cities, downtowns accounted for an almost negligible share of total citywide property and violent crime.”

While violent crime rates are at a high in other parts of Philadelphia, for example, the Center City neighborhood remains safer than others, accounting for only 1 percent of the growth in property crime between 2019 and 2022. Of the four cities in the study, Seattle was the only one with a higher rate of violent and property crimes downtown. In the others, the share of crimes occurring downtown remained the same or, in Philadelphia’s case, went down.

The study notes that a rise in visible homelessness and drug use, driven in part by lower foot traffic and vacant storefronts, influences the overall sense of unease felt by many urban residents, but points out that “people living on the street are more likely to suffer crime than to commit it.”

When it comes to violent crimes in Philadelphia, the study highlights the patterns that existed pre-pandemic. “Those crimes are almost wholly not taking place in Center City, but in systemically disadvantaged neighborhoods where much of the violence took place before the pandemic — and where it’s since become far worse.”

The study outlines recommended solutions that can improve safety, such as lighting and other infrastructure. According to researcher Hanna Love, “The best use of public funds would be investments in safety infrastructure in the higher-crime neighborhoods, rather than, say, adding a bunch more police officers [downtown].”