Does urban infrastructure matter?
with women's uncertain public safety in Metropolitan City
What Exactly Exists?
Can you imagine that 203,516 incidents of violence against women occurred in New York City during 730 days (2020 ~ 2022), according to incomplete data from the New York City Police Department (NYPD)?
In New York City, most of the crime happens in domestic places, and 25.88% of incidents happen in public places.
From Fears
A research survey in 2022 shows that 32% of women survey respondents feel unsafe in public spaces at night. A study of 28 global cities found that women were 10% more likely than men to feel unsafe in metros and 6% more likely to feel unsafe on buses.
Time Heatmap
Infrastructure Factors
Fears deprive women of enriching public experiences. Essential concerns for women are dark spaces, insecure surroundings, poor-condition buildings, and lack of accessibility to facilities and resources.
Walk Walk Walk
The layout, shape, and condition of streets and sidewalks can impact the experience of walking. The pavement condition rating (from 1 to 10): - Good (%) - ratings of 8 to 10 - Fair (%) - ratings of 4 to 7 - Poor (%) - ratings of 1 to 3
"Dark Spots"
There are 315,000 streetlights in New York City. From 311 requests (2020 - 2022), the map shows complaints about damaged streetlights resulting in bad lighting.
Vacancy and Insecure
The vacant building dataset is collected from 311 requests (2020 - 2022)
Accessibility of Public Transportation
In New York City, there are 472 subway stations. The subway operates 24 hours a day, but not all lines operate at all times.
We can see there are more vacant buildings concentrated in Brooklyn. Streetlights in Manhattan are always broken, and the pavements in new york city are not so good but just okay.
Correlation does not imply causation but ... the closer women are to these areas, the higher the probability of an accident.
Involving in Public Activities
Facilities
Places and activities are shaping the quality of women's life.
- Core infrastructure and transportation - Parks, gardens, and historical sites - Public safety, emergency services - Library and cultural programs
They Can Help
The map shows the women's resource network in New York City, including Over 1,000 nonprofit organizations and agencies that work to advance and benefit women and families.
Significant Factors
Statistics can help us figure out the critical factors in violent incidents. But we can conclude slightly different perspectives by different methods. The distance to damaged streetlights, subway stations, facilities, and poor pavement actually affects the probability of incidents. Other socioeconomic factors and crime types also are significantly relevant to the number of crimes.
Summary of the linear regression model
The importance value statistically indicates that a feature is more critical for the model's performance.
Discussion
Criminology is complicated by human factors. Spatial analysis can dig out invisible truth but is limited.
At the most obvious level, cities have been built, designed, and planned primarily by men. So, there is a predominantly male perspective on how the city works or should work. —— LESLIE KERN