This article explains how urban planners study the differences in street structure and urban environment to create safe and livable cities, and how ownership, neighborhood contact, and neighborhood environment are important factors.
One of the big issues in Korean society these days is the increasing number of crimes against people in ordinary neighborhoods, such as indiscriminate assaults and child sexual assaults. These incidents are not just an increase in statistics, but a reflection of structural problems in our society and changes in our living environment. With these stories making headlines almost every day, people seem to be moving beyond outrage and into a state of denial, especially as media outlets report on these incidents in detail, further fueling public anxiety. To address these issues, governments and others have come up with a variety of solutions, including electronic anklets and chemical castration. In the midst of these efforts, our urban planners are also working on a more fundamental aspect of urban planning to address the problem. They are studying which streets and urban environments are safe, and which are dangerous, in order to create safer and more livable cities.
In the modern world, most people don’t even know who their next-door neighbors are. This is a result of urbanization and the rise of individualism, which has resulted in less and less communication and interaction between neighbors. In contrast, in the late 20th century, when you lived in an ordinary neighborhood or rural village rather than an apartment building, you knew most of the people around you, which made for a relatively safe life. There was a strong sense of neighborliness and a culture of taking an interest in each other’s affairs and solving problems together. Safe neighborhoods with this kind of atmosphere certainly exist in the modern world. Urban planners believe that it’s the differences in the urban environment that make the difference. There are many factors that make up the urban environment, but we’ll look at the differences that can be made by people’s sense of ownership, their contacts, and their neighborhoods.
First, the difference between a safe neighborhood and an unsafe neighborhood is whether or not the people on the street have a sense of ownership. The requirements for a street to have a sense of ownership include clear boundaries between public and private space, the presence of people with a sense of ownership, and uninterrupted sidewalks. In suburban environments or housing developments, when there’s a blurring of what’s for us and what’s for everyone else, we feel like our privacy is being invaded, and it’s hard to take ownership of the neighborhood we live in. Second, there needs to be an eye on the street. Public buildings, small shops, etc. that are designed to house strangers and ensure the safety of residents and strangers alike should all face the street. If these places turn their backs on the street, or if they abandon the street in favor of a vacant lot, there is no eye on the street, and the street becomes unsafe. Finally, sidewalks should have a steady stream of users: they should be designed to solve at least two purposes, and the street can be made safer by having facilities or public buildings that are designed for that purpose keeping an eye on the sidewalk, and the public enjoying watching the street as a result.
Sidewalks also need to have the right kind of contact: a simple hello and goodbye from a neighbor can go a long way toward making a street safer. The best examples of these are the small shopkeepers on the street, who are often referred to as ‘public figures’. They’re the super aunts and dry cleaners we see on the street, and they share a lot with residents without invading their privacy. Their steady presence in public spaces keeps our streets from becoming desolate and unsafe. But as they disappear and big-box stores and online shopping malls take their place, the vitality and safety of our streets decline.
In order to create these safe urban environments, urban planners believe it is necessary to create vibrant and interesting streets, a continuous network of street structures, and the use of public buildings such as parks and plazas as part of the street. To create safe streets, urban planners are studying successful examples from the past and trying to adapt them for modern use. Of course, some of the examples above may be difficult for urban planners to implement directly. However, the idea of creating safe streets, reducing crime rates, creating neighborhoods where people don’t fear their neighbors, and ultimately creating a more livable city is a paradigm for urban planners. These efforts will ultimately contribute to strengthening society’s safety net and providing a safe and secure environment for all citizens.
Therefore, we need to approach urban planning not just from a technical perspective, but also from a social and cultural perspective. The safety of our cities requires a culture of ownership and caring for each other. This is not something that can be solved through simple regulations and policies, but requires the participation and cooperation of all citizens. Therefore, governments, communities, and individuals will need to work together to create a safer and happier society.
