Significant education factors in creating local safety maps

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on local safety map creation education activities for crime prevention and to quantitatively identify the relationships between the elements that determine the expected effects of local safety maps.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to clarify the effects following and the significant factors involved in creating local safety maps, questionnaire surveys were given to participants in map-creation activities held in Kitakyushu City, Japan. The results were analyzed with structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results showed that safety maps may improve an understanding of the characteristics of dangerous and safe places, but they may not enhance knowledge of places sufficiently for someone to ask for help if they are in danger or are likely to be a crime victim. Of the factors most important in both the creation and effectiveness of safety maps, intergenerational exchanges and communication rank the highest, as they relate to an understanding of safety and crime prevention, and to familiarity with the region.

Practical implications

In the future, we should establish a system and design for safety map creation in which intergenerational discussion and communication with various people, including university students, is possible.

Originality/value

Although the production of local safety maps has been said to improve participants’ abilities, it was unclear who gained abilities in the map-making process to the extent to which the participants could effectively produce the maps. This paper discovered the effects and the significant factors involved in map creation.

Citation

Nakamura, H. and Murae, F. (2017), "Significant education factors in creating local safety maps", Safer Communities, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 20-31. https://doi.org/10.1108/SC-08-2016-0018