Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

This graduate thesis is engaged with perceived safety and "safe making"
design in public places. Despite the fact that we have never been as safe,
questions of safety get more attention than ever in today’s society. Public
demands for safer and more secure environments and low levels of experienced
feelings of safety indicate problems in society that can shrink
people's usage of public places as well as their quality of life.

Through methodical exaggeration of danger and legislation of laws, the
state creates a situation that in different respect work to overprotect the
citizens, who are not unlikely to experience feelings of being unsafe at
the same time that the actual safety is to big. An expansion of protection
against fear can unlike what was first intended decrease the experience of
safety. Instead of working in a direction that makes the public fear grow the
state must learn its citizens to correctly deal with everyday risks. According
to psychiatrist David Eberhard, citizens in what he refers to as "the safe
narcomanic society" are lacking the ability to make correct risk analysis.

An overall perspective of questions concerned with safety, contemporary
knowledge from literature studies and interviews with experts are presented.
This provides support for the analysis that follow, tips and advices on
how a safer outdoor environment can be created. Additionally I describe
my vision of common people's perceived safety on the basis of results from
surveys of public opinion on safety, media and interviews with common
people.

There is still much to learn before we will find the ultimate structure that
provide an efficient local safety design which accomplish a higher level of
experienced safety. A structure that create a safe milieu without negative
side effects, as a more closed society with increased suspiciousness towards
other people. It is hard to define safety and to create a general application
for how projects of "safe making" shall be undertaken as the feeling of
safety is individual for every person and every place. The dream of a safe
society can only be approached if we let the features that creates safety
run through the founding that form our society without any limitations. Finally,
my conclusion is that attractivness is of decisive importance for the perceived
safety at a place. This give landscape architects together with the other
professions engaged in the design and maintainance of our physical environment
a prominent role in the development of safe public places.