Sense of Safety in Urban Public Spaces

This book seeks to understand how international and domestic students in the regional city of Bendigo use public space, how the physical elements of space are perceived and what impacts these have their behavior when using the city centre at night. More generally, it looks at the question of fear of crime against person and property as a basis for thinking about the design of public spaces. A mixed-method approach used for the study comprised questionnaires completed by 156 students, self-recorded walks and auto-photo-elicitations completed by 20 domestic and international students at night in selected sites in the Bendigo CBD. The study findings show that fear of crime is a concern of students when they are in the Bendigo CBD, particularly international Asian students and domestic female students. This research helps planners to understand factors relating to reports of fear of safety and that international and domestic students have different perceptions of safety. It also highlights how planning policies can enhance feelings of personal safety through careful attention to people’s experiences of actual urban settings.