Can Street Design Help Lower Violent-Sexual Crimes?

Violent-Sexual Crimes (VSC) are a big problem in many cities. People often blame bad street design for these crimes. But what if changing how streets look could help? This idea is not new. Many studies have looked at how single things like lighting or trees affect crime. But most have not looked at many things together. A recent study tried to do just that. Researchers wanted to see if a mix of street design factors could lower VSC rates. They used something called the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) to figure out which design factors matter most. Then, they scored these factors based on what they found.Next, they used Google Street View and something called Semantic Segmentation to study the streets. They picked 15 streets in London at random. They used a tool called QGIS to analyze these streets. The results were interesting. Streets with better design scores had fewer VSC incidents. But this study has limits. It only looked at one area in London. So, the results might not apply everywhere. Still, the method could be useful in other places. The study shows that good street design might help lower VSC rates. But it is not a magic fix. Many other things also play a role.