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Perceptual quality of neighbourhood design and feelings of unsafety

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2012

LIESBETH DE DONDER ,
TINE BUFFEL ,
SARAH DURY ,
NICO DE WITTE  and
DOMINIQUE VERTÉ
LIESBETH DE DONDER*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
TINE BUFFEL
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
SARAH DURY
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
NICO DE WITTE
Affiliation:
Department Vesalius, University College, Ghent, Belgium.
DOMINIQUE VERTÉ
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
*
Address for correspondence: Liesbeth De Donder, Department of Adult Educational Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium. E-mail: ldedonde@vub.ac.be
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Abstract

This paper takes the quality of life in the neighbourhood as a starting point and appeals to the framework of Age-friendly Cities to gain insights in how ‘the neighbourhood as a physical surrounding’ can either promote or hinder feelings of unsafety in later life. It examines the impact of the perceived design of the neighbourhood on feelings of unsafety in later life. Literature on the relationship between feelings of unsafety and the neighbourhood mainly concentrates on incivilities and disorder. Other physical-spatial features of the neighbourhood are rarely taken into consideration. Using data generated from the Belgian Ageing Studies (N=25,980) multivariate analyses indicate that a neighbourhood which is perceived to be physically adapted to the needs of older people (in terms of accessibility and distance to services) heightens feelings of safety. The findings demonstrate the need to reduce behaviour constraints by redesigning fear-related physical features. This conclusion raises practical implications and formulates a number of policy recommendations to tackle feelings of unsafety in an ageing society.

Keywords

feelings of unsafetyfear of crimeage-friendly citiesbroken windowsneighbourhoodolder adults
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 33 , Issue 6 , August 2013 , pp. 917 - 937
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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