earticle

영어

Crimes occurred in the residential areas have led to the increasing fear of crime as well as the decreasing outdoor activity. Crime victims suffer both mental and physical aftereffects over a long period of time and this aftereffect caused by crimes has been emerged as the most serious social problems in modern society. As for the crime prevention, the traditional approach only relying on the police force has its own limitation in our rapidly changing society. Therefore, a new approach applying the concept of “Crime Prevention Through Environment Design (CPTED)” into physical environment must take into consideration, in order to prevent the crime and create safe space. Such efforts would improve the quality of life. Currently, the City of Seoul has been conducting “Wall Removal Project” that primarily aims to provide more parking lots through removing walls in a residential area. As such projects are able to bring out great impact on the residents’ sense of community and the feeling of safety, research from the safety perspective is in demand. The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between physical environment and the residents’ sense of community and sense of safety. To this end, this paper adopted case study method with survey questionnaire. The study sites was selected by the following conditions: 1) two areas completed Wall Removal Project, 2) two areas adjacent to the completed Wall Removal Project site and 3) two areas apart from Wall Removal Project site. This study concluded that the residents in the Wall Removal Project completed possess the strong sense of community and safety compared to other residents. This study identified that Wall Removal Project contributes not only to provide additional parking lots in residential area but also to increase the residents’ sense of community and decrease the fear of crime.