Fear follows form: a study of the relationship between neighbourhood type, income and fear of crime at train stations

In pursuing fear-reduction strategies in public transport, thetotal experience of accessing rail stations should be taken into account.This article correlates passengers’ fear of crime at train stations withneighborhood types and income data within the pedestrian catchmentarea. The research is based on urban form and income around 84S-train stations in the Copenhagen metropolitan area and nine years ofpassenger surveys on fear of crime at these stations. The study reveals asignificant positive correlation between low income and fear of crime;the lower the income in an urban area, the more unsafe passengers feelat the station. However, when controlling for the relationship betweenincome, safety and neighborhood type, stations in neighborhoods withurban form associated with low incomes have the lowest ratings ofsafety. The research indicates that train passengers’ sense of security isconnected to neighborhood type and the city’s planning characteristics.This is an important finding for urban designers and planners workingon the integration of public transport and station design in urban areas.