The Psychological Security of an Individual in the Urban Environment: Definition of the Construct

Abstract

The article analyzes the basic definitions of psychological security, the approaches to this phenomenon, and reviews the concepts of security psychology. It also provides a brief overview of how this concept emerged. Psychological security is examined in the context of environmental and urban settings, linking psychological security to individual characteristics of urban dwellers. The study shows that psychological security is considered in a variety of contexts, and the semantic field of psychological security has changed over time, psychological security of urban dwellers has mainly been studied in relation to overcoming fear of crime. A series of narrative interviews was performed to analyze the semantic field of the concept “psychological security of urban residents” in the individual consciousness of the respondents and to identify the indicators of psychological security. The respondents (n = 28) participating in the study represent Yekaterinburg residents with different levels of education, income, and length of residence in the city. The interviews collected information on the characteristics of the respondents (gender, age, education, income level, city residence time). It did not follow a standardized interview schedule, but included questions such as: “What do you think about the city you are living in now?”, “What is it like to live here?”, “Do you ever feel scared, worried, panicked or afraid in your daily life in this city?”, “Can you describe you sensations when you feel safe in your daily life?” The analysis of the interviews enabled us to obtain a representation of the state of psychological security of city dwellers and to identify universals that constitute the indicators of psychological security of city dwellers: “freedom”, “comfort”, “self-efficacy”, “trustworthy relationships”, “control over the environment” and “reliability”, which cover three different forms of experiences and reactions of individuals with regard to the city: affective, cognitive and behavioral. The definition of psychological security of the individual in the urban environment is formulated. This can serve as a basis for the development of recommendations for designing a safe urban environment.