The time-varying effects of physical environment for walkability on neighborhood crime

Abstract

The current study conducts a spatial-temporal examination of physical environment for walkability and crime in block groups located across nine U.S. cities. We aggregated the crime data for each of the different crime types using the block group where the crime occurred and the 2-hour period of the 24-hour day when the crime occurred. We estimated models at each 2-hour time slot (for weekdays and weekends), separately, to look at the effect of the walkability measure on crime at different hours of the day. Our results show that the crime-enhancing effect of physical environment for walkability changes across different hours of the day, and such temporal patterns vary by different types of crime. Crime-enhancing effect of physical environment for walkability is relatively stronger during very early morning time (midnight-4 am), and the risk of crime as a result of neighborhood walkability peaks in the late afternoon (2–4 or 4–6 pm). The measure of physical environment for walkability has different effect on crime patterns across hours of the day as the usage and meaning of physical environment and routine activities of people visiting the area, and thus the structures of criminal opportunities and guardianship capability temporally vary at different time periods.