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Green Investment Strategies: A Positive Force in Cities

This research in Philadelphia looks at buyers’ willingness to pay more for property in neighborhoods that have undergone greening. Greening works to transform blighted vacant lots through debris removal, community gardens, and newly landscaped commercial corridors.

Key Points:

  • Commercial greening corridors (improvements to public spaces that featured business activity) in excellent condition imparted a 23% increase in home values within a quarter mile of the corridor.
  • Vacant land management initiatives (removing trash, planting shrubs, adding benches) increased adjacent property values by 17%.
  • Streetscape projects (horticultural treatments to a sidewalk or roadway that improve appearance, particularly of commercial corridors with high visibility and high levels of pedestrian or vehicular traffic) increased surrounding home values about 28% relative to similar homes in comparable areas without streetscape improvements.