Relationship between streetlight lighting and fear of crime: Focusing on the CPTED principle

Abstract

Single-person households accounted for 33.4% as of 2021, and 29.6% of the respondents said they felt anxious when walking at night. In addition, 39.7% of single-person households said our society is not safe from crime. Accordingly, based on a perception survey on the social safety environment, the study sought to examine the effect of lighting, an element of natural monitoring of CPTED, on fear of crime damage and the influence of lighting on fear of crime damage while controlling other CPTED factors. As a result, it was confirmed that there was a negative correlation between lighting and fear of crime damage. The more evenly the streetlight lights were distributed, the brighter the lighting was, the less fear of crime damage decreased. Among the elements of CPTED, the even distribution of lighting showed the highest explanatory power. This can have a greater effect on reducing residents' fear of crime damage by planning CPTED projects or increasing the installation of streetlight lights than the illumination of lights in CPTED certification.