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Urban Crime Occurrences in Association with Built Environment Characteristics: An African Case with Implications for Urban Design

Author

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  • Patrik Silva

    (School of Resources and Environmental Science (SRES), Wuhan University, 129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, China)

  • Lin Li

    (School of Resources and Environmental Science (SRES), Wuhan University, 129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, China
    Institute of Smart Perception and Intelligent Computing, SRES, Wuhan University, 129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, China)

Abstract

Empirically, the physical spatial arrangement of places provides us with a clue about the likelihood for crime opportunities based on the principles of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). Although we know that the quality of the urban built environment influences people’s behavior, its measurement as a variable is not an easy task. In this study, we present and develop a set of urban built environment indicators (UBEIs) based on two datasets: building footprints and road networks at the neighborhood level in the city of Praia, Cape Verde. We selected the four most relevant UBEIs to create a single urban built environment indicator (CUBEI), and then, explored their relationships with five types of crime (i.e., burglary, robbery, mugging, residential robbery, and crimes involving weapons) using correlation and regression analysis. Our results showed a consistent and statistically significant relationship between different types of crimes with both the UBEIs and CUBEI, suggesting that a poor urban built environment is associated with an increase of all types of crimes investigated in this study. Thus, to minimize crime incidents, urban planners should rehabilitate or design neighborhoods from the earlier stage, considering the principles of CPTED and broken window theory (BWT).

Suggested Citation

  • Patrik Silva & Lin Li, 2020. "Urban Crime Occurrences in Association with Built Environment Characteristics: An African Case with Implications for Urban Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-23, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:7:p:3056-:d:344002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hauke Jan & Kossowski Tomasz, 2011. "Comparison of Values of Pearson's and Spearman's Correlation Coefficients on the Same Sets of Data," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 30(2), pages 87-93, June.
    2. Patrik Silva & Lin Li, 2017. "Mapping Urban Expansion and Exploring Its Driving Forces in the City of Praia, Cape Verde, from 1969 to 2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-21, August.
    3. Bornioli, Anna & Parkhurst, Graham & Morgan, Phillip L., 2019. "Affective experiences of built environments and the promotion of urban walking," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 200-215.
    4. Twinam, Tate, 2017. "Danger zone: Land use and the geography of neighborhood crime," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 104-119.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jinyao Lin & Yaye Zhuang & Yang Zhao & Hua Li & Xiaoyu He & Siyan Lu, 2022. "Measuring the Non-Linear Relationship between Three-Dimensional Built Environment and Urban Vitality Based on a Random Forest Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-18, December.
    2. Yu-Ling Peng & Yuan Li & Wei-Ying Cheng & Ke Wang, 2024. "Evaluation and Optimization of Sense of Security during the Day and Night in Campus Public Spaces Based on Physical Environment and Psychological Perception," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-26, February.
    3. Seng Boon Lim & Chee Kong Yong & Jalaluddin Abdul Malek & Mohd Fuad Mat Jali & Abd Hair Awang & Zurinah Tahir, 2020. "Effectiveness of Fear and Crime Prevention Strategy for Sustainability of Safe City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-24, December.

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