Parks have long been an important place in the city. It constitutes an important function as a meeting place and recreation area, but also fulfills an important democratic function in society and contributes to a sense of community and belonging. However, the green space has over time become a place in the city that has come under the spotlight of crime and insecurity, which for many people has consequently become a place to avoid. Since the built environment has a direct connection with the human experience of safety, great importance is placed on the urban planners ability to create an environment that contributes to safety in the green space. Above all, the focus should be on planning for an environment that is of positive security, which is based on a safety that comes from within the person, and not only the creation of environments that are of negative security, which means limitations and protection against something.
The aim of this study is to find out how positive security can be promoted when planning parks by examining how safety aspects can be handled in selected planning tools: Comprehensive plan, detailed plan and social impact assessment tool, and evaluate them against negative and positive security. The research question for this study is “How can you work with safety aspects in the different planning tools to promote positive security inparks?”.
The study is based on a document analysis of municipal documents and one semi-structured interview and email correspondence. The results chapter presents the collected empirical evidence from interview and email correspondence with Stockholm city, as well as specific examples from the cities Stockholm, Malmö, Gothenburg and Västerås.
Conclusions that can be drawn from the results of the study is that it is possible to work with natural monitoring and populated places in the comprehensive plan by proposing a mix of functions in areas that consist of a monotonous land use. It is also possible to use the holistic perspective to try to reduce barrier effects and suggest development areas where parks should be within equal distances and work as a gathering place for the city's residents.
In the detailed plan, can positive security be promoted through strategic placement of buildings towards the park to create natural surveillance, or also ensure a functional mix together with strategic design of streets so that they point out the park as a destination point and increase the population in and out of the park. Lastly, when it comes to the social impact assessment tool, can measures based on activity support and accessibility be worked with to promote positive security in the form of setting requirements for activities so that everyone can use the park.