This article was originally posted by the New York Times on Dec. 12, 2025.
By Shayla Colon.
No single factor explains the sharp declines in gun violence Philadelphia has seen since 2022. Instead, many experts point to a range of interventions working in concert. One of those concepts is crime prevention through environmental design, the discipline of improving the appearance of neighborhoods to deter crime. When the Philadelphia Energy Authority swapped out old high-pressure sodium bulbs in streetlights for warmer LED ones that offered better coverage, nighttime gun violence fell 21 percent. In areas where abandoned buildings were remediated, gun crimes decreased 39 percent.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/headway/philadelphia-gun-violence-environmental-design.html