Spatial and temporal comparison of safety perception in urban spaces. Case study of olomouc, opava and jihlava

Abstract

Subjective and participatory mapping has become an important tool for urban planners and city administrations. Perceptions of safety can affect the quality of life and property prices. The presented paper describes participatory mapping exer-cises in three Czech cities, where questions were asked concerning people’s subjective perceptions of safety during the day and at night. Respondents in Olomouc (n = 661), Opava (n = 901) and Jihlava (n = 106) respectively indicated 1516 (Olomouc); 3491 (Opava) and 894 (Jihlava) places as unsafe. The data was gathered over a period of two years; in Olomouc data was collected between 1st October and 2nd December 2015, in Opava the survey took place between 19th October 2016 and 30th December 2016, and in Jihlava in the period from 30th November 2015 until 4th March 2016. The data collected included information about the gender of the respondents and the day-time/night-time division of perceived safety, so it was possible to analyse gender differences as well as time specifics from the collected data. The results suggest that there are certain areas in all three cities that have similar patterns (train stations, city parks, dark and narrow streets, excluded communities).