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What are the most relevant factors influencing perceived danger in urban public space? To answer this question, a field experiment of students( N = 122) was carried out on a German university campus within which perceived danger was analyzed under systematic variation of lighting, prospect, and opportunities of escape. Two standardized questionnaires were used to record the following: perceived danger, avoidance behavior, trait anxiety, psychological gender, and experience as victims. The findings provide empirical support for the importance of the three physical factors and of the biological sex. The effect of opportunities to escape seems to be the strongest factor. It appears to be even more important than biological sex and psychological gender (masculinity and femininity). The results clearly show the necessity of reducing behavior constraints by redesigning fear-related physical features.

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In the domain of travel mode choice behavior, the interaction between ecological norm orientation and the external aspects “fare” and “subway station range” was investigated in an experimental field study. The ecological norm orientation is conceptualized based on the Schwartz theory on altruistic behavior, which is then applied to the environmental context. In a random sample of 160 persons, fare was experimentally manipulated by distributing free public transport tickets, whereas the station range was varied by selecting test participants at different distances from a station. Within the norm activation model, the mobility-specific personal ecological norm proves to be the strongest predictor of travel mode choice as recorded in standardized questionnaires. Reducing the fare by distributing free tickets has a quantitatively similar effect. The results suggest that the “economy-plus-moral” formula best describes the fact that the integrative mechanism (external factor fare plus normative ecological orientation) is the determinant of travel mode choice.