Do Symbolic Barriers Prevent Crime and Offer an Increased Sense of Safety? A Pilot Study

摘要

There has been a noticeable increase in the incorporation of symbolic barriers at the approaches to defined residential locations in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. These entrance features (gateways, archways, changes in surface texture) assume appropriate environmental sensitivity on the part of individuals approaching them, so that they modify their behaviour as required. This assumption seems to be based on an act of faith rather than hard empirical testing of the assumption. As a step towards redressing this lack of research, we carried out a modest pilot study to observe what kind of response there was to the installation of a symbolic barrier. Our preliminary findings suggest that, at best, they only seem to modify the behaviour of some 'visitors' and, worryingly, appear to act as a provocation to some recalcitrant individuals who may be exactly those we most want to deter.