Assessing the Impact of Street-View Greenery on Fear of Neighborhood Crime in Guangzhou, China

Previous literature has examined the relationship between the amount of green space and perceived safety in urban areas, but little is known about the effect of street-view neighborhood greenery on perceived neighborhood safety. Using a deep learning approach, we derived greenery from a massive set of street view images in central Guangzhou. We further tested the relationships and mechanisms between street-view greenery and fear of crime in the neighborhood. Results demonstrated that a higher level of neighborhood street-view greenery was associated with a lower fear of crime, and its relationship was mediated by perceived physical incivilities. While increasing street greenery of the micro-environment may reduce fear of crime, this paper also suggests that social factors should be considered when designing ameliorative programs.

Micro Scale Environmental Characteristics and Fear of Crime

This study investigated the relation between crime, fear, and micro level physical environmental features: physical incivilities, places that afford concealment (or refuge), limited prospect, and blocked escape. Low and high crime streets in Istanbul, Turkey was determined. Then 68 streets were selected via cluster random sampling and evaluated by two investigators at the site and by 127 people via photographs for perceived safety, upkeep (as an indicator of physical incivilities) the extent to which they afford wide vista (prospect) and easy escape and concealment opportunities, the density and height of trees, shrubs, and walls. Results supported the theory and the findings of previous empirical studies. Keywords: Crime, Perception of safety, Fear, Prospect-refuge theory, Concealment, Incivilities eISSN 2514-751X © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.