Publication
Title
Rating places and crime prevention : exploring user-generated ratings to assess place management
Author
Abstract
This study assesses how the quality of place management (measured with user-generated ratings from Google Places) is related to crime occurrences at specific settings and whether specific crime types are related to specific types of places. In 50 randomly sampled neighborhoods in Ghent (Belgium) and London (United Kingdom), we analyzed Google Places data as a proxy measure for the quality of place management at the street segment level. We used hurdle models to examine the effects for both the prevalence and frequency of crime at micro places, and to deal with excess zeros in the data. User-generated ratings of places provide a useful place-level indicator for place management that are related to crime. However, contextual differences are found between Ghent and London. For London, the results suggests that higher quality of place management has a protective effect on crime occurrences at the street segment level. This study indicates the importance of exploring new and emerging data sources as unique measurement opportunities to enhance insight in crime prevention mechanisms, and also acknowledges its limitations. For the first time from a large-scale empirical perspective, this study suggests that improving place management at specific places might be an effective intervention to guard against crime.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Computers, environment and urban systems. - New York
Publication
New York : 2024
ISSN
0198-9715
DOI
10.1016/J.COMPENVURBSYS.2024.102088
Volume/pages
109 (2024) , p. 1-12
Article Reference
102088
ISI
001199484900001
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
The author-created version that incorporates referee comments and is the accepted for publication version Available from 23.02.2025
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Law 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 02.05.2024
Last edited 27.05.2024
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