Measuring students’ preferences for urban furniture vandalism in Selçuk University Campus in Turkey: A case study

Abstract

Vandalism is a phenomenon that we can encounter in any circumstances to public or private property. The vandalistic behaviors depend on the individuals’ perception and public tolerance; also, the human intolerance and their behavior are the factors which might influence the vandalistic acts. To understand the individuals’ perception of the vandalism issue, it is necessary to get the correct information, reason, and dimension of the act. The purpose of this research is to identify and understand the perception, thoughts, and attitudes of the students from Selçuk University toward the concept of vandalism. According to the questionnaire conducted for this purpose, 82.3% of the participants were reported to have aggressive behaviors against urban elements, and the damage to urban furniture was mostly done by writing (66.2%). The survey-research revealed that gender, which mostly involved in vandalism are males. Also, the timing of vandalism is observed at 21:00 (49%). The rate of those participants who said that they harmed the urban furniture is 15.6%, consciously stated that they had damaged the picnic table (55.1%) by writing or drawing (40%), and they had done it because the urban furniture was already vandalized (44.6%). This study will provide guidance on solutions by finding the causes and types of vandalism acts on urban furniture, which is a serious but not undetected problem in university campuses. The research indicated that people perceived vandalism as a lack of consciousness, sanction, and quality of the material and affects the quality of life. While, if enough people are aware of the problem, then the incident rate will decline, simultaneously.