Managing crime and the fear of crime at railway stations––a case study in South Wales (UK)

Abstract Rail users consistently perceive their risks from crime to be significantly higher than official statistics suggest, discouraging many from using rail transport. The aims of the paper include a discussion of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and current policy initiatives for reducing crime and the fear of crime on the railways. This exploratory study focuses on adult passengers' perceptions of crime and nuisance as they relate to the management, design and maintenance of railway stations and their immediate access routes. The study innovatively utilises interactive virtual reality (VR) scenes of `representative' stations as the environmental stimulus and concludes that such an approach provides an analytical and pragmatic framework for managers of railway stations that are unlikely to receive Secure Station accreditation.

[1]  Richard H. Neale,et al.  A Critical Review of Street Lighting, Crime and Fear of Crime in the British City , 2003 .

[2]  Timothy D. Crowe,et al.  Crime prevention through environmental design : applications of architectural design and space management concepts , 1991 .

[3]  Mark S. Gaylord,et al.  Riding the Underground Dragon: Crime Control and Public Order on Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway , 1991 .

[4]  David Hillier,et al.  Crime and the design of residential property – exploring the theoretical background ‐ Part 1 , 2001 .

[5]  David Hillier,et al.  Crime and the design of residential property – exploring the perceptions of planning professionals, burglars and other users , 2001 .

[6]  Richard W. Ireland.  ‘An increasing mass of heathens in the bosom of a Christian land’: the railway and crime in the nineteenth century , 1997, Continuity and Change.

[7]  John E. Eck,et al.  Preventing crime at places , 2003 .

[8]  Dennis Jay Kenney.  Crime, Fear, and the New York City Subways: The Role of Citizen Action , 1986 .

[9]  O. Newman.  Defensible Space: People and Design in the Violent City , 1973 .

[10]  Shane Greive,et al.  A Virtual Reality Approach to Personal Safety and the Design of Built Environment Facilities , 2002 .

[11]  Jack L. Nasar,et al.  Experiencing other people's houses: a model of similarities and differences in environmental experience , 1992 .

[12]  Frances Downing,et al.  Image Banks , 1992 .

[13]  R. Clarke.  Situational Crime Prevention: Successful Case Studies , 1992 .

[14]  Martin Wachs,et al.  Bus crime in Los Angeles: II—Victims and public impact , 1986 .

[15]  L. Groat,et al.  Meaning in post-modern architecture: An examination using the multiple sorting task , 1982 .

[16]  Robert Reiner,et al.  The Oxford Handbook of Criminology , 2012 .

[17]  Lawrence E. Cohen,et al.  Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity Approach , 1979 .

[18]  La Vigne.  VISIBILITY AND VIGILANCE: METRO'S SITUATIONAL APPROACH TO PREVENTING SUBWAY CRIME , 1997 .

[19]  Robert Gifford,et al.  DEFENSIBLE SPACE THEORY AND THE POLICE: ASSESSING THE VULNERABILITY OF RESIDENCES TO BURGLARY , 1999 .

[20]  Peter Reuter,et al.  Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising. Research in Brief. National Institute of Justice. , 1998 .

[21]  K. Devlin,et al.  AN EXAMINATION OF ARCHITECTURAL INTERPRETATION: ARCHITECTS VERSUS NON-ARCHITECTS , 1990 .

[22]  J. Jacobs.  The Death and Life of Great American Cities , 1962 .

[23]  Marcus Felson,et al.  Crime and Everyday Life: Insights and Implications for Society , 1994 .

[24]  Patricia Weiser Easteal,et al.  Preventing crime on transport , 1991 .

[25]  Christopher Sumner,et al.  PREVENTING JUVENILE CRIME , 1992 .

[26]  J. Nasar,et al.  DESIGN REVIEW AND PUBLIC PREFERENCES: EFFECTS OF GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION, PUBLIC CONSENSUS, SENSATION SEEKING, AND ARCHITECTURAL STYLES , 1997 .

[27]  Dorothy Singer.  Research Connection , 1982 .