The Space Syntax of urban parks; identifying areas inducing sense of fear of crime in visitors (a case study of Tappeh-Bashi Park in Naghadeh)

The syntax of spaces is one of the significant factors affecting visitors' sense of security in urban parks. Due to the vitality and green nature of parks, they are expected to provide more sense of peace and security to visitors than other urban spaces; However, Tappeh-Bashi Park in the city of Naghadeh, located in West Azarbaijan province, Iran, is a counterexample. This park, despite its glory days not so far past, has become a place for addicts and criminals because of a lack of surveillance, ethnic conflicts, and the stoning of two people there. Recently, measures have been taken by the municipality to improve the security of the park, such as taking out criminals, implementing some sports facilities, and planting trees, and flowers. Although this has significantly reduced the rate of crime, citizens still do not desire to visit this park due to their sense of fear of possible crimes. The root of this issue is both subjective and objective and this study's focus is on the objective aspect.The purpose is to find the areas inducing a sense of fear of crime in visitors in the case study by assessing the role of the objective factors related to the spatial syntax of the park in both physical and visual dimensions. To do so, the qualities affecting the sense of fear in visitors of Tappeh-Bashi Park and their extracted indicators were evaluated by space syntax technique and through Depthmap software.In this research, the four qualities of accessibility, choice, controllability, and integration in the physical dimension, and the qualities of lighting, visibility, and attraction in the visual dimension were evaluated. First of all, the base map of the site was updated, and the axial maps of indicators including connectivity, mean depth, metric depth, permeability, and mysteriousness were prepared in DepthMap software and valued in Geographic Information System (GIS). Next, the obtained quality maps were weighed and overlaid to get the final axial map. Then, the visual graph of the clustering coefficient indicator was combined with the final map, which gave us three areas inducing a sense of fear among visitors.Finally, three areas were also examined in terms of visibility indicators such as maximum radial line, compactness, and occlusivity, which gave us a good insight to analyse the potentials of each area for reducing sense of fear. For findings validation, the agent analysis of the site was applied, which proved area two has the potential for designing against the sense of fear of crime with the aim of enhancing social interaction. The site also was assessed according to the intensity of lighting at night showing that area three lacks proper lighting.The results showed that the dead-end and undefined routes in the park have reduced the mobility and integrity of pedestrian paths. Moreover, spaces with low levels of lighting at night, spaces that lack natural surveillance, and mysterious and abandoned spaces in the park have the highest potential to induce feelings of insecurity and a sense of fear of crime.