An Environmental Psychological Study of Residential Factors affecting Crime Victimization and Fear of Crime of the Residents of High-Rise Apartment

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The aim of this study was to reveal the residential factors affecting crime victimization and fear of crime in the residents of high-rise apartment. The study was designed to clarify the neighborhood characteristics, structural characteristics and the interaction between them.This study consisted of two questionnaire researches. The first research was carried out in Nagoya city and the second was in Saitama prefecture. The questions used were almost same between them. Subjects were adult females (from 20 to 60 years old) in both researches.The following results were obtained. Firstly, the size of apartment had dear main effect on some crimes. The larger the size was, the more frequently crime occurred. Secondly, the lighting condition in apartment site also had main effect on the crime, especially on the intrusion. Good lighting condition seemed to inhibit this kind of crime. Thirdly, the characteristics of neighborhood land use affected violent crimes such as sexual crime and robbery. These crimes seemed to occur more frequently in the residential quarter which was apart from main railway station than in the shopping area near to main station.The interaction between neighborhood and structural characteristics were also confirmed. For example, the inhibitoiy influences of lighting on sexual crimes were found in the residential quarters but not in the shopping area. In addition, sexual assault occurred more frequently in the apartment which was near to main road than in the apartment apart from main road, but this relationship was found only in the shopping area. Conversely, it occurred more frequently in the latter in the residential area.