The Influence of the Built Environment on Crime Using Geographically Weighted Regression Analysis to Understand the Influence of the Built Environment on the Occurrence of Crime in Neighborhoods of Amsterdam

Crime in neighborhoods have a significant impact on the quality of life and
safety of the residents. This study aims to gain a better understanding of the
influence of the built environment characteristics on the occurrence of crime in
the neighborhoods in Amsterdam. Multiple theories and contributions on the
subject, such as CPTED, defensible space theory, the broken window theory and
the social disorganization theory are discussed. Relevant variables were obtained
from these theories and contributions and were empirically tested. Relevant
variables were operationalized using geographical information systems. An
exploratory regression analysis was performed for different crime types to obtain
the most optimal ordinary least squares regression models. The variables of this
regression analysis were subsequently used in a geographically weighted
regression analysis to identify local variations in the relationships between the
built environment and crime. The results show that different types of crime are
influenced by different characteristics of the built environment. Moreover,
variations over space were observed for these relationships. One of the key
findings of this research is that tourist attractions heavily correlate with various
crime types. Another interesting finding is that mixed land‐use is negatively
correlated with crime in general, which is supported the literature. Where some
of the results confirm the current knowledge on this subject, some contraries
could also be observed. it can be concluded that the built environment does
influence the crime rates in Amsterdam, but it should be noted that the excessive
number of tourists in Amsterdam also interferes with these relationships.