Fear of crime in urban settings : influence of environmental features, presence of people and social variables

Abstract

Past researches have shown that fear of crime is influenced by environmental features and social variables. Most such studies on fear of crime have paid attention to either environmental clues or social-cultural variables independently. Primarily this paper argues that planners and planning practice require a holistic understanding of fear of crime to be effective at policy development, implementation and evaluation. A more holistic understanding of fear of crime can be achieved by combining environmental approaches and social approaches. One conceptual framework that can help to achieve this is prospect and refuge. Prospect and refuge, as a theoretical framework, enables researchers and planners to consider how environmental features such as the density of the urban fabric, lighting, and social features such as presence of people and activity jointly influence fear of crime in relation to subjective experience of individuals’ identifiable characteristics which for this paper, comprise gender and status as a local or international Asian student.