Perception of terror risk and of the security of counter-terrorism design in public spaces

Abstract

At a time of terror, research on the perception of terror risk makes an important contribution to increase understanding of the public perception of terror threat. This kind of research can be utilized to improve strategies for raising the sense of security in public spaces. Since 9/11, efforts to promote this sense of security have been implemented through the development of security features embedded in public spaces, known as counter-terrorism design. It is assumed that terror risk perception can affect the perception of security in this design strategy. To investigate this issue, research was conducted on three business districts which represented high-profile terror attack targets in Jakarta. The primary findings of the study confirm the research assumption, but the role of terror risk perception was less strong than expected as the main predictor to determine the perceived security of counter-terrorism design. In addition, the study also found that gender had a significant but low influence on the security perception of counter-terrorism design.