Every city has at least a few streets where you won’t feel completely safe from crime. This might be due to several factors, such as the time of day, who you’re with or the reputation of the area. Research has shown that ‘fear of crime’ affects urban walkability, but now a new project has shown that the reverse may also be true: that improving the walkability of a street can reduce the number of crimes in an area.
Testing Broken Windows
Since the 1980s the ‘broken window theory‘ has been widely debated in criminology and government policy. The theory suggests that the quality of the urban environment, such as the presence of broken windows, may encourage vandalism and escalation into more serious crime. Now a new project in the Netherlands could be about to provide some much needed proof for this theory.-
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