Exploring Urban Fear of Crime using Unsupervised Classification - The Case of Athens

This publication examines whether urban landscapes, exhibiting different spatial and thematic characteristics, can affect the fear local residents feel about crime. The purpose of this research is therefore to explore the correlation of the fear of crime in modern cities with urban, environmental a...

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Main Author: Dimitra Stamou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Association of Geographers 2022-04-01
Series:European Journal of Geography
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eurogeojournal.eu/index.php/egj/article/view/248
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author Dimitra Stamou
author_facet Dimitra Stamou
author_sort Dimitra Stamou
collection DOAJ
description This publication examines whether urban landscapes, exhibiting different spatial and thematic characteristics, can affect the fear local residents feel about crime. The purpose of this research is therefore to explore the correlation of the fear of crime in modern cities with urban, environmental and social characteristics. In order to verify this postulation, the Municipality of Athens was set as study area and a wide questionnaire-based survey was conducted. A dedicated web platform (http://www.fearofcrime.com/) was employed to collect, analyse and visualize crowd fear experiences and their spatial distribution. Over 900 participants have contributed relevant data to be further explored. In order to meet the above objective and facilitate the process, the respondents and their answers were grouped into clusters via unsupervised classification. The variables were formed by all respondents’ answers and the k-means algorithm was used. From this process, groupings of a certain number of clusters emerged. The distribution of each cluster was determined on the seven City Districts of the Municipality of Athens, which were used as spatial reference units, revealing the largest and smallest concentrations. Thus emerged the image of how the phenomenon of urban fear of crime is shaped in the different districts of the Municipality of Athens.
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spelling doaj-art-fa0efe3c71e04ab0bf11e741bd41972e2025-01-06T06:59:04ZengEuropean Association of GeographersEuropean Journal of Geography1792-13412410-74332022-04-0113210.48088/ejg.t.sta.13.2.127.138Exploring Urban Fear of Crime using Unsupervised Classification - The Case of AthensDimitra Stamou0National Technical University of Athens, Greece This publication examines whether urban landscapes, exhibiting different spatial and thematic characteristics, can affect the fear local residents feel about crime. The purpose of this research is therefore to explore the correlation of the fear of crime in modern cities with urban, environmental and social characteristics. In order to verify this postulation, the Municipality of Athens was set as study area and a wide questionnaire-based survey was conducted. A dedicated web platform (http://www.fearofcrime.com/) was employed to collect, analyse and visualize crowd fear experiences and their spatial distribution. Over 900 participants have contributed relevant data to be further explored. In order to meet the above objective and facilitate the process, the respondents and their answers were grouped into clusters via unsupervised classification. The variables were formed by all respondents’ answers and the k-means algorithm was used. From this process, groupings of a certain number of clusters emerged. The distribution of each cluster was determined on the seven City Districts of the Municipality of Athens, which were used as spatial reference units, revealing the largest and smallest concentrations. Thus emerged the image of how the phenomenon of urban fear of crime is shaped in the different districts of the Municipality of Athens. https://eurogeojournal.eu/index.php/egj/article/view/248Fear of crimeunsupervised classificationurban planningspatial analysis
spellingShingle Dimitra Stamou
Exploring Urban Fear of Crime using Unsupervised Classification - The Case of Athens
European Journal of Geography
Fear of crime
unsupervised classification
urban planning
spatial analysis
title Exploring Urban Fear of Crime using Unsupervised Classification - The Case of Athens
title_full Exploring Urban Fear of Crime using Unsupervised Classification - The Case of Athens
title_fullStr Exploring Urban Fear of Crime using Unsupervised Classification - The Case of Athens
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Urban Fear of Crime using Unsupervised Classification - The Case of Athens
title_short Exploring Urban Fear of Crime using Unsupervised Classification - The Case of Athens
title_sort exploring urban fear of crime using unsupervised classification the case of athens
topic Fear of crime
unsupervised classification
urban planning
spatial analysis
url https://eurogeojournal.eu/index.php/egj/article/view/248
work_keys_str_mv AT dimitrastamou exploringurbanfearofcrimeusingunsupervisedclassificationthecaseofathens