Research in Public Spaces: Safety and Human Behavior

This thesis is a study of public spaces with a focus on personal safety and human behavior in public spaces. It establishes literature in the realm of public spaces, safety standards, and behavioral research and aims to identify common ground or conflicts between people behavior in public spaces and safety standards of public spaces. Research is supported through detailed on-site analysis and various techniques of behavioral research of two plazas in a campus setting. The first part of the research focuses on literature to understand origin of public space, importance of safety, and evolution of safety standards in the context of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). The later part of this thesis is based on preliminary site investigations, which help in identifying two public plazas on the Virginia Tech campus to provide a platform to conduct research and help identify common grounds or conflicts between safety standards and human behavior. The research also aims to help revise techniques of safety evaluation of public spaces, based on human needs and behavior. The research is primarily qualitative in nature supported with a concise quantitative data analysis to ascertain participant demographics and social needs.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Landscape Architecture

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Landscape Architecture

Department dc:contributor.department

Landscape Architecture

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Atmakur, Sruthi

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Miller, Patrick A.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Katen, Brian F.
• Zahm, Diane L.

• CPTED
• Human behavior
• Public spaces
• Safety

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-02172010-213154

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/31258