Built Environment and Crime in a South Korea Context

Abstract

The primary purpose of this paper is to test the applicability of environmental criminology in the case of South Korea. Also, it explores more effective strategies from a spatial planning perspective by taking control of diverse spatial planning factors. The study area is South Korea, and the base year was 2016. The relationship between the built environment and three crimes (theft, violence, sexual assault) was analyzed using the spatial econometric model. As a result, the best spatial regression models for violent crime rate and sexual assault rate are SEM and SAC, respectively. The most prominent finding is that the regression results in the three crimes are slightly different. The broken windows effect was negligible for significant crimes in South Korea. The influence of regional disorders on the incidence of crimes was marginal. In the three crime types, mixed land use affected raising crime rates, which is a line with some previous studies that mixed land use increases the likelihood of crime incidences. Unlike a series of relevant works, brighter nighttime light has not effectively decreased crimes in South Korea. In South Korea, CCTV did not play a role in deterring crimes. Lastly, socio-economic characteristics were closely connected with crime rates in South Korea. Findings of theft rate, violent crime rate, and sexual assault rate confirm the reliability of environmental criminology. Although this study has examined the likelihood of applying environmental criminology, further researches and discussions are followed for concrete plans.