Relation between Recognition of Community Efforts on Park Maintenance, Its Effect on Community Safety Design, and the Evaluation of the Local Community

Abstract

Local residents in Japan have been involved in park maintenance for a long time. Furthermore, their activities are considered effective not just in beautification of the environment but also in enhancing crime prevention. Therefor enhancing evaluation of open-space maintenance activities as an integral element of community safety design. Most evaluation studies on the effect of these activities focus on a system or community or crime prevention, whereas studies that evaluate of its effects on combine these view point as comprehensive community safety design are rare. The purpose of this research is to understand the current state of the awareness of park management activities by local residents and to clarify how the acknowledgement of those activities contributes to community building and crime prevention. The data was gathered from resident questionnaires, and a multiple-regression analysis was performed with awareness of the activities as the explanatory variable and the effect of the activities as the response variable. As a result, it became clear that a weak relationship exists between communication within the area and awareness of activities such as cleaning the park and growing flowers. However, there was no resulting improvement in safety against crimes. In addition, only among women was the acknowledgement of growing flowers seen to improve the sense of public safety, security, and attachment to the area.