Neighbourhood design and fear of crime: A social-ecological examination of the correlates of residents’ fear in new suburban housing developments

Foster, Sarah; Giles-Corti, Billie; Knuiman, Matthew

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.07.007

Cited by 195 publications

(179 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…Additionally, the access to public services has no significant effect on residents' sense of insecurity. This result is in line with the results achieved by Foster et al (2010). Indeed, the results confirmed the definition of proper housing that is a place in which there are sufficient private spaces for all family members to do their favorites individually (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Moreover, access to diverse land-uses is another factor that affects perceived safety (McCord, Ratcliffe, Garcia, & Taylor, 2007;Wood et al, 2008). In this essence, Foster, Giles-Corti, & Knuiman (2010) found that availability of public services (as one function of mixed land-uses) in the neighborhood causes a decrease in resident's fear of crime and feeling of unsafety.…”

Section: Research Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Associations between Dwelling Type, Environmental Aspects of Housing Welfare, and Residents’ Sense of Insecurity in Bandar-Abbas, Iran

Moradi¹,

Dokoushkani²,

Razali³

et al. 2015

ASS

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Recently, feeling of safety in the residential area as a component of a proper housing has attracted a lot of attention from psycho-sociologist. Hence, this survey aims at determining the relationship between dwelling type, environmental aspects of housing welfare, and residents' sense of insecurity in Bandar-Abbas, Iran using a self-administered structured questionnaire distributed among 384 residents (62 from single-unit houses + 322 from apartment complexes) randomly selected. The findings show that dwelling type is significantly related to sense of insecurity among the residents. Further, the relationship between the components of housing welfare in residential building and residents' sense of insecurity is negatively significant. Additionally, regarding the effect of housing welfare components in residential neighborhood, only the access to recreational services has a significant negative but small effect on the sense of insecurity. Therefore, the factors which contribute to improved residents' feeling of safety may absorb more attention by both designers and policy makers in the housing development in order to increase the welfare of housing.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Research Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between Dwelling Type, Environmental Aspects of Housing Welfare, and Residents’ Sense of Insecurity in Bandar-Abbas, Iran

Moradi¹,

Dokoushkani²,

Razali³

et al. 2015

ASS

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“…Neighborhood form and fear of crime have therefore been studied to understand how the former contributes to the latter; in particular, more walkable neighborhoods with access to shops and transit appear to lower the fear of crime thanks to a perceived increase in territorial (informal) guardians, although they may also increase the perceived crime risk due to the increased presence of strangers to the area (Foster et al 2010). The homogeneity of neighborhoods and their geometry, including the number of main artery roads traversing them and the amount of use of bounding streets, were also found to play a significant part in crime rates, more so than informal territorial control in a study of pairs of low and high crime rates in neighborhoods in Atlanta, Georgia (Greenberg et al 1982).…”

Section: Emotional and Personal Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Design and Quality of Life

Rómice

Thwaites

Porta

et al. 2016

Handbook of Environmental Psychology and Quality of Life Research

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This chapter deals with those aspects of the design of cities that have been shown to affect quality of life. Whilst direct causal relationships between physical space and well-being are often difficult to establish, physical space certainly does play a significant part in shaping the way we engage with it, informing the individual and collective sense of attachment to our own environment; this will become increasingly important, with the urbanization process predicted to grow, a significant part of which in conditions of informality. The aim of this chapter is to gather relevant and recent research that highlights advances in the study of the reciprocal effect between urban form and urban life and use this to compile an agenda for future thinking, research and practice in the field of socially sustainable urban design.The thrust of this agenda is centered on the concept of control. Since urbanization is an ongoing phenomenon and life in cities is now the norm for the vast majority of people, the traditional role of design needs to be reconsidered to give way to more collaborative and flexible forms of conceptualization, creation, occupation and management of space. This is important in order to relieve pressure on land and institutions, and instill an overall proactive and reciprocal attitude towards space itself, and space as a form of collective and social life.The chapter will highlight that urban quality of life rests on four core themes of: material well-being; emotional and personal development; interpersonal relationships; and physical well-being. These themes provide an organizational framework for exploration of how they are manifest at the metropolitan, neighbourhood and pedestrian levels of scale. KeywordsCities, urban form, control, urban design, quality of life, metropolitan scale, neighbourhood scale, pedestrian scale. Email author OutlineFrom an overview on recent trends in urbanization, we will introduce the notion of control as a key to read the following text and in particular we will: 1. contextualize the concept of control in relation to the fields of both quality of life (QoL) and urban form. In fact, the literature in both domains shows that there is a mutually reciprocal relationship between aspects of quality of life and urban spatial structure; 2. review established and recent research on the relationships between QoL and urban form, structured around metropolitan, neighborhood and pedestrian scales, which illustrates the centrality of control in shaping our cities and allowing quality of life to be fulfilled within them; 3. propose a conceptual framework for socio-spatial urban design, which is sensitive to the relative importance of predictive/structural and loose/flexible urban elements in the production and management of urban space, and their critical role in affording their users a sense of control; 4. suggest the need for a reconceptualization of city form away from an assemblage of material and spatial elements towards a more integrated sense of a city as a mutually d...

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“…Among adults, feeling unsafe is associated with adopting poorer health habits (e.g., increases in sedentary behavior, decreased physical activity, and active transportation), and experiencing poorer mental (e.g., anxiety, deteriorated psychological wellbeing, and social withdrawal) and physical (e.g., poorer self-reported health, stressrelated diseases, and chronic conditions) health. [7][8][9][10] With respect to child health, parent perceived unsafety is associated with asthma, 11 sleep problems, 12 psychological distress, 13 and weight-related behaviors (e.g., physical activity). 14 Parents' perceptions of safety may influence child health by impacting the household environment and parenting decisions (e.g., restricting children's outdoor activities).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…24 Adults' perceptions of safety are also tied to factors contributing to the use of public space, such as features supporting natural surveillance (e.g., residential density and land use) and walkability (e.g., well-lit areas, trees, and public green spaces). 7 Natural surveillance encompasses the concepts of "eyes-on-the-street" (e.g., based on the use of public space) and eyes-from-the-street (e.g., based on the presence of clear sight lines from the street). However, neighborhood features associated with high usage, such as traffic and the presence of businesses, can also lead to increased noise levels and in turn to poorer child health and well-being (e.g., elevated blood pressure, and self-reported stress).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Child’s View: Social and Physical Environmental Features Differentially Predict Parent and Child Perceived Neighborhood Safety

et al. 2014

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Parent and child perceived neighborhood safety predicts child health outcomes such as sleep quality, asthma, physical activity, and psychological distress. Although previous studies identify environmental predictors of parent perceived safety, little is known about predictors of child perceived safety. This study aims to identify the social and physical environmental neighborhood features that predict child and parent perceived neighborhood safety and, simultaneously, to assess the association between child and parent perceptions. Data were from the QUebec Adipose and Lifestyle InvesTigation in Youth (QUALITY) cohort, an ongoing study of Caucasian children (aged 8-10 years) with a parental history of obesity, and their biological parents from Québec, Canada. Measures of social and physical neighborhood features were collected using a spatial data infrastructure and in-person audits. Structural equation modeling was used to test direct and indirect associations between neighborhood features, child and parent perceived safety. Results suggest that among children (N=494), trees and lighting were positively associated with perceived neighborhood safety, whereas a high proportion of visible minorities was associated with poorer perceived safety. Parents' perceptions of safety were more strongly tied to indicators of disorder and a lack of community involvement, and to traffic. Child perceived safety was partly explained by parent perceived safety, suggesting moderate concordance between perceptions. Although associated with each other, parent and child perceived safety seemed to be determined by distinct environmental features. Though this study focused on determinants of child and parent perceived safety, future research investigating the impact of neighborhood safety on child health should consider both child and parent perspectives.

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Neighbourhood design and fear of crime: A social-ecological examination of the correlates of residents’ fear in new suburban housing developments

Cited by 195 publications

References 86 publications

Associations between Dwelling Type, Environmental Aspects of Housing Welfare, and Residents’ Sense of Insecurity in Bandar-Abbas, Iran

Associations between Dwelling Type, Environmental Aspects of Housing Welfare, and Residents’ Sense of Insecurity in Bandar-Abbas, Iran

Urban Design and Quality of Life

A Child’s View: Social and Physical Environmental Features Differentially Predict Parent and Child Perceived Neighborhood Safety

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