A Study on the Safer Parks using CPTED Principles

Abstract

A recent crime statistics shows that the crimes in parks have increased for past ten years. However, the safety issue in park has not covered seriously by scholars and citizen. The purpose of this study is to examine the status of park safety and to suggest the appropriate strategies for safer park using CPTED principles. For this study, we used two data sets conducted by field study for parks and by survey questionnaire for park visitors in Seoul. A total of 67 parks were selected for on-site visit and 1,000 park visitors were collected using convenience sampling in Seoul. The results showed that violent assault, theft, sexual offense, and robbery were happened in parks. In spite of the criminal statistics, park visitors expressed their satisfaction with park facilities. However, the result of field study points out that most of parks lack standard of quantity on lighting, intensity of illumination, and maintenance policy for lighting. Finally, based on CPTED principles, this study suggests an enhancement of natural/ mechanical surveillance for safer park. The detailed policy implications and strategies will be discussed in the context.