Call it good news for sustainability: For people to be attracted to city life - which is less energy intensive - they have to feel safe. It is a burden for some, even though it's a way to reduce your carbon burden. So the news that crime in cities has dropped to the lowest levels in 40 years is a statistic to get excited about.

At the Atlantic Monthly, economist Richard Florida writes: Big cities posted bigger declines than the national average for property crime, which fell 3.9 percent in cities with populations of a million or more compared to 2.8 percent nationally ... Even more striking is the trend in violent crime, which is also down substantially in big cities. These crimes ... fell 5.1 percent in big cities with more than 1 million people. That's better than the decline for the smallest communities, with populations under 10,000 (4.3 percent).

But why? In neighborhoods where we want denser communities that are less auto-centric, how can this be duplicated?

Florida says "one factor frequently cited by criminologists is demographics. Crimes are more likely to be committed by young people, so the crime rate drops when the cohort of young people shrinks, as it has in the past few years. Better policing surely helps too, as has urban revitalization, which is bringing relatively prosperous singles, couples, families, and empty nesters into neighborhoods that had been in decline in years past, improving neighborhood quality and safety."

Communities diverse in age and ethnic demographics, well-policed, and have, well, higher income residents moving in bring lower crime rates. Again, it's a delicate balance of urban revitilzation versus gentrification and an effort to displace history. But it's important information when advocating for dense, sustainable cities.

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