What makes a safe street? EXPLAINED

Why do some streets feel safe, and others liminal?

[viceroyvic]

Great points. Also note the differences in lighting and street width!

[ScramJett]

This is exactly the reason why Dutch kids are free to navigate their cities without adult supervision. There is so much natural surveillance that no one worries about something bad happening to their kids. Even if something does happen, there will be a high probability of good samaritans willing to help. This is in contrast to the human deserts that are American cities and suburbs.

[ElijahCem]

And having living spaces within walking distance of those business but you guys already know and talk about that often

[TheAzul_Indigo]

Wouldn’t narrower, tree-shaded, brick roads with low speed limits also invite more foot traffic? I can’t imagine feeling comfortable window shopping on a sidewalk next to a stroad or freeway in the summer.

[cmyk]

Fun fact: the more common plural of “passerby” is “passersby”; in this construction, “by” is added after “passer” to modify it. It’s like “attorneys general”, “lilies-of-the-valley”, and “goings-on”.

[robertlee]

Now how to convince cities and towns to do more of these builds and designs. Luckily our town and surrounding towns and cities are doing so but there's some hick towns that want to stay the old ways.

[TheLopsidedobject]

It's not just about the "sense of safety". It's about actual safety.

[AnotherDuck]

I actually like walking through an empty city in the middle of the night when no one is around.

[cadesmandela]

Except for the 90% of the population that are purely bystanders and don’t intervene or alert authorities even though they see crimes

[Marconius]

It also helps when the sidewalks are decently wide, and the cars aren't rushing by at insane speeds.

[jmwburner]

I would often try to explain this concept to my very suburban ex to no avail. The streets with people are safer.

[alexanderhanna]

The Bystander Effect negates crowd safety my Gs

[savagesarethebest]

This apparently doesn't work in Sweden, my thought goes to the exchange student who got shot in a pizza restaurant in broad daylight in Uppsala less than 2 hours after getting into the country.. And other things like that, and the police kept claiming that gang violence don't affect regular people for many years..

[limjaheybobandy]

Jane Jacobs was not an urbanist btw, that's a common misconception. She was a journalist and was quite vocal on certain urban topics, but that's pretty much it. I don't think she wrote anything urban planning related outside of Life and Death

[paperaxes]

Do these factors that increase the feeling of safety actually contribute to real safety?

[forthefuture]

The second one had a storm 🤣 jk love y'all

[trg]

But why do the festive lights look like traffic cones?

[juangonzalez]

Eh, this only works with people people. Those of us who dislike people might just prefer that empty street because it isn’t full of people.

[TheHawaiianc]

In to days world both places not safe having to crowded is not safe as empty road not because everyone can see it complexity crowded places can over stimulate the person mind and confuse the person, this why pick pocket happen in subway on crowded sidewalk where they can bump in to target easily.. truth I rather be in lite empty place reason at least I can identify the person and scream or brace for out come I feel more safer in lit empty space where I know I can call for help and someone be their…

[Pinocchio]

How to get people on the streets? Get cars off the streets.