Security sensitivity index: evaluating urban vulnerability

Abstract

Designing safer and secured urban areas is one of the main aspirations of urban designers and city decision makers, in order to control both existing and developed urban environments. Hence, stakeholders and decision makers are required to understand and assess the risks before decisions are made. In addition, many researchers note that security risks are integrated components within the urban environment and point out diverse urban elements, which greatly affect various security risks in urban environments. When evaluating security in urban fabrics, however, it appears that there is a lack of quantitative models and tools available for use by urban designers and planners to measure and rate urban environments and determine their vulnerability objectively. The research presented here emerged from this gap of information and demonstrates a geographic information system-based mapping system to identify and rate high-risk or insecure urban areas, to be used by designers. The system is based on measurements of urban parameters as they relate to security, employing urban morphology analysis.