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Abstract
In recent times, residential districts in modern cities face certain new and undesired problems related to antisocial behaviour by adolescents in its urban public spaces. In this study, we investigate the relationship between the design features of public spaces in residential areas and the problem of vandalism within the districts. This paper examines the current literature reviews on vandalism, the main reasons behind the increase of in the problem, types of vandalism, and a mathematical model for assessing visibility and accessibility in addition to proving the results of a field study conducted in a UAE city. We believe that visibility of vandalism-prone areas through dwelling windows, accessibility of such areas by residents through dwelling entrances, and recognition of ownership of such areas can definitely play a role in mitigating vandalism. Our findings indicated the following: (1) There is a strong relationship between vandalism and visibility through dwelling windows. (2) Residents' accessibility to dwelling entrances and recognition of ownership play an important role in reducing vandalism. (3) In areas where the visibility and accessibility by residents is low, the severity of the problem of vandalism increase if there is an increase in the percentage of adolescent residents. (4) The design characteristics of the housing areas, such as the height of the blocks or the limits of public spaces, do not have any influence on the occurrence of vandalism.
Keywords: Vandalism, Perception, Housing Design, Housing Management, U.A.E.
1. Introduction
Vandalism and graffiti constitute the manifestations of individual attempts to show that the area has been visited amongst countless other objectives that have been and are yet to be identified (Kirrilly et al, 2012). Vandalism has been broadly defined by Van Vliet as 'wilful damage to or destruction of property owned by others' (1992), whilst graffiti has been defined as painting or drawing words or pictures onto varied surfaces, commonly walls and windows (Vandal Watch, 2008). Vandalism is also defined as the wilful or malicious destruction, injury, disfigurement, or defacement of property (Miller, 1973, 1980; Coleman, 1995; Fazi et al, 2008). Vandalism has been frequently found to occur in association with other problems such as other crimes, and most of the relevant studies involve the use of the same techniques of assessing the effect of design...