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apo-nid63307.pdf | 591.46 KB |
Abstract: Public greenspace is a common feature in urban environments that can provide and promote social and physical well-being, yet they can also encourage deviant or criminal behaviour. The variability of greenspace form and function may influence opportunities for criminal behaviour yet researchers rarely distinguish greenspace by type. Further, greenspace form and function may disperse or concentrate crime into particular daily or weekly periods. Our study empirically constructs a typology of greenspace types from spatially integrated local council assets registers, crime incident, and cadastral data. We explore the extent that greenspace crime is a function of time, and the degree that greenspace types promote or hinder criminal opportunities. Our findings reveal that greenspace type influences the types and timings of crime. In line with routine activities theory, we find that that crime occurs during the temporal-spatial convergences of offenders, victims, and absent guardians, and that greenspace type influences these temporal-spatial convergences.