Unsafe Locations in Semi-Rural Sweden: The Where, What, When, and Why

Much previous research on fear of crime has focused on why some individuals experience higher levels of fear than others. However, a growing body of literature examines place-based fear of crime and perceived unsafe locations, indicating a shift in focus from individuals to locations as units of analysis. Much previous research is, however, mainly focused on urban areas, with less being known about this dimension of fear and unsafety across other contexts along the urban–rural continuum. By means of a purpose-built digital mapping tool, the current study examines where unsafe locations are situated and what characterises them, when and why they are perceived as unsafe, and the extent to which there are differences in perceived unsafe locations between sex and age groups. With a convenience sample of 256 participants, reporting a total of 447 unsafe locations across two small towns (approx. 3,400 and 10,700 inhabitants) located near a regional centre in southern Sweden, the results show that unsafe locations tend to be spatially concentrated, and cluster close to specific features of the built environment. Time of the day and the presence of both physical and social disorder seem to be important for how locations are perceived. Furthermore, perceived unsafe locations in semi-rural areas seem to be slightly less dependent on sex and age of the respondent compared to other operationalisations of fear and unsafety, with more similarities than differences in the geography of fear and reasons for unsafety at specific locations. The results from the current study support the notion that place-based perceptions of unsafety may be a less subjective phenomenon compared to other dimensions of fear of crime and may offer a more practically relevant approach for practitioners.