Study links South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park to crime drop
Study links SOC Renaissance Park to crime drop
When you think of parks, you may think of playgrounds and picnic tables. However, a new study suggests that a park that opened in Dallas in 2021 is creating a safer community.
DALLAS - When you think of parks, you may think of playgrounds and picnic tables. However, a new study suggests that a park that opened in Dallas in 2021 is creating a safer community.
South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park
What we know:
South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park opened four years ago in the 300 block of Overton Road, transforming what was an overgrown dump site into two acres of inviting open space.
"It was a dumping ground. There were over 200 tires here, countless furniture. It was so overgrown, you couldn't see from front to back," said Molly Morgan, the Texas executive director for the Trust for Public Land.
The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit organization, raised $2 million for the construction.
"We had a great plan. We had buy-in from the community. And most importantly, we had finders that believed in our vision and believed that we were the organization that could come deliver and execute for the community," Morgan said.
Crime Reduction Study
By the numbers:
Just as the community transformed the park space, the park may have transformed the neighborhood around it.
Last week, the Landscape Architecture Foundation released a 2024 case study report that says the park has, in some ways, contributed to a 58% reduction in 911 calls for service.
The foundation used data from the Dallas Police Department and plugged it into geographic information system software.
"We basically took the areas of adjacent parcels, and we counted for the three years that the park has been developed. And we counted the three years prior to it being developed. And we took those numbers and came up with that calculation," said Letora Anderson, an assistant professor of landscape architecture at UT-Arlington.
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What they're saying:
The Trust for Public Land said it's goal is to make places safer by connecting people to the outdoors and giving them a way to have fun playing, shooting hoops, or just hanging out.
"These spaces are designed for people who live locally to walk there, to experience that, to be able to go somewhere that they’ve seen for years upon years, whether it’s vacant, whether it’s blight. And to see that transformation, and they can enjoy that, protect it, steward it, and pass it on," added Ray Garvin, the organization's Texas director of philanthropy.
What's next:
South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park is the first of three signature parks the Trust for Public Land has planned along the five-mile creek greenbelt.
In total, the organization has 15 parks planned across the city to provide a close-to-home green space for every neighborhood and resident, especially in areas that have been underserved.
The Source: The information in this story comes from a report published by the Trust for Public Land and interviews with several people involved in the study and developing the park.