Security Journal, Vol.7, p.147-163

 

Assessing guardianship opportunities at underground stations

Adriaan Cornelis Uittenbogaard

 

Research has provided plenty of evidence on how crime is influenced by guardianship – people’s capacity to affect crime. The aim of this article is to examine whether opportunities for guardianship are in turn affected by the physical and social environments of underground stations. Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is used as a case study. Guardianship here constitutes two dependent variables indicated by visibility and surveillance. The analysis combines data from fieldwork with secondary land use and socio-economic data as independent variables in a set of logistic regression models. After controlling for endogeneity, findings show that guardianship opportunities are affected by the flow of passengers, presence of security guards, good sightlines and tools for surveillance, for example, mirrors. Nonetheless, these impacts vary by different sections of the station. The article concludes by presenting how guardianship opportunities can be promoted as a means of reducing crime and disorder at transport nodes.