Lighting Up Safety: How Streetlights Affect Crime in Chile

Streetlights play a big role in keeping cities safe. In Chile, a big project replaced old streetlights with new ones. The goal was to see if this change would cut down on crime and other issues in public spaces. The project looked at 101 places where lights were upgraded. It also compared them to 244 places where nothing changed. This way, they could see if the new lights made a difference. The data came from government records between 2015 and 2019. So, did the new lights work? For some crimes, yes. Surprise robberies went down. So did street vending and drinking in public. But for violent robberies, the lights didn't make much of a difference. This shows that lighting is just one piece of the puzzle. There are other things to consider too. Some crimes might not be reported. The way the lights were put in could vary. And there might be other factors at play. So, while lights help, they aren't a magic solution. To really make cities safer, more needs to be done. Police patrols in key areas could help. So could other safety measures. It's all about working together to keep public spaces safe. In the end, lighting is important. But it's not the only thing that matters. A mix of strategies is needed to keep cities safe. This is true not just in Chile, but anywhere.