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Exploring the effects of the social and built environment on perceived safety in urban parks

Bunk, Esther (2021) Exploring the effects of the social and built environment on perceived safety in urban parks. Bachelor thesis.

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Assignment 7 Final Bachelor Thesis Esther Bunk.pdf

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Abstract

A poorly planned park has undesirable effects on human wellbeing. Given the evidence that the feeling of safety in urban parks is related to positive mental and physical health effects (Lanza et al., 2021; Wu and Kim, 2021; Pearson et al., 2021), it is important to see which characteristics influence the perceived safety of people in urban parks. Therefore, this research addresses the question how socio-demographic, social, and built environment characteristics influence the perceived safety of people within urban parks, at different times of the day. The characteristics age, gender, race, maintenance, vandalism, other people, reference/meeting points, houses, facilities, street lighting, big streets, clear paths, and seeking refuge are discussed for their importance during the day and at night. The data, collected in a survey, and distributed in the Noorderplantsoen and Stadspark (Groningen), is analyzed by a frequency analysis based on error bars, and Spearman’s rank correlations. This research concludes that, based on descriptive statistics, all above-mentioned characteristics are to some extent important for people’s perceived safety, and that all characteristics are perceived more important at night than during the day. Especially the characteristics maintenance and presence of people are important during the day, and street lighting are most important at night. These results can be used in planning practice to improve the perceived safety in urban parks.

Item Type: Thesis (Bachelor)
Degree programme: Spatial Planning and Design
Supervisor: Ramezani, S.
Date Deposited: 16 Jul 2021 12:07
Last Modified: 16 Jul 2021 12:07
URI: https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3577

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