Exploring safety concerns in the night-time city: Revitalising the evening economy

Abstract

The spatial interrelationships between safety concerns, recorded crime and the functioning of the evening economy are explored within the city centres of Swansea and Cardiff. Anxiety at night is focused on places exhibiting fear-generating design and poor environmental quality, on the bus stations and multi-storey car parks, and on the 'drinking' streets where night clubs and pubs are concentrated. Anxiety partly reflects the pattern of recorded crime. The highly localised distributions of crime and fear lend support to policies of functional segregation within the city centre in revitalising the evening economy, whereby activities for an older clientele are spatially separated from the youth-oriented pubs and night clubs.