Characteristics of Urban Space as Factors Influencing the Perception of Safety in Hong Kong

Abstract

Hong Kong, an East Asian metropolis, due to its natural-relief landscape and status as a Special Administrative Region with strictly defined borders, is one of the most densely populated and built-up cities in the world. The perception of space in it, and especially safety, intuitively differs from the traditionally less dense and well-studied Europeani ed environment. In this article, the author examines how certain characteristics of space are associated with subjectively perceived safety and danger in the urban environment using two Hong Kong's districts, Sheung Wan and Yau Tong.

The measurement of safety perception was conducted using a visual survey among Hong Kong residents using a special form. A total of 124 respondents participated in the study. The relationship between the identified characteristics of the urban environment and the safety coefficient was determined using spatial regression. It was found that the urban environment with fewer commercial facilities is perceived as safer by respondents.

The results of the study simultaneously refute and epand its theoretical framework in the context of the nature of the relationship between variables, creating a discourse regarding the perception of safety in high-density cities of Southeast and East Asia. In the future, it would be worthwhile to determine how the safety of the studied environment is perceived in reality and what factors it depends on.