Creating Safer Cities through Urban Planning and Development

Abstract

Crime has always been one of the major concerns of residents of many cities around the world. It is one of the fundamental threats faced at every level of society - individual, organizational, sub-national, national, international/global. The need to assure a high level of security for the city‘s inhabitants and visitors is one of the most important tasks of local government. It is clear that only a comprehensive strategy with different crime fighting methods can bring positive results. Although theories coming from social sciences dominate this field of research, the authors of the paper emphasize the role of other perspectives, especially those developed by urban planners. The second part of the paper describes the process and results of the empirical research conducted in Vilnius city which was aimed at identifying the most vulnerable to crime open public spaces of the city applying the space syntax theory. The analysis helped to identify several common tendencies and specific proposals for local governments aiming to achieve a higher level of security in their cities and a better quality of life for local population.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ppaa.11.3.2498