Design, Construction and Planning
Dedenbach Lab
Led by Laura Dedenbach · Urban and Regional Planning
What we study
Recent student projects in this lab have studied urban planning, mapping graffiti and crime data across New York City and testing statistically whether more graffiti means more crime. The PI's papers cover town-gown history and Gainesville neighborhoods.
What working here is like
- Computational
- No organisms (data only)
- Coding helps
- Project
- 1
- Papers
- 2
Current projects
Role of Graffiti in Shaping Urban Areas - Safety Analysis through NYC Case Study
The researchers mapped graffiti locations and crime data across New York City and used statistical tests to see if more graffiti meant more crime. They found little or no direct link, arguing that graffiti isn’t a cause of crime and could be used in city planning to boost community engagement and public space design.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 346
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Historic Town-Gown Partnerships: Planning, Race, and Power
2024 · Journal of Planning History
- Gainesville’s Forgotten Neighborhood
2021 · Journal of the American Planning Association
Examines how planners in Gainesville (FL) used racial narratives to shape neighborhood development over decades.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Laura Dedenbach hasn't set up this page yet. You can also look them up in the UF directory (search “Laura Dedenbach”).