I. Fasolino, M. Grimaldi, E. Coppola, M. Russo (2025), “Assessing urban security to plan and design safe cities”, in Valori e Valutazioni 2025, n. 38, ISSN 2036-2404, pp. 1-4

This special issues fall in the Next Generation EU - PRIN PNRR research project “SeTUP - Security Town through Urban Planning”, which explores the relationship between safety and urban green spaces. The aim of the research is developing a risk-mapping model based on indicators to support the assessment of safety in urban public spaces. The main goal is to construct a spatial decision support system to inform future urban planning strategies and to define guidelines for urban green space within planning instruments. The study, conducted within the project by the research units of Salerno and Naples, aims to demonstrate that careful planning, taking into account the spatial, environmental and specific characteristics of urban parks, can contribute to reducing crime levels and making these places safer, more attractive and accessible for all people. The issue of urban security is central to urban policies and is a prerequisite for the creation of sustainable cities and communities as also confirmed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, in particular SDG 11. A declination of sustainability is safety in all its forms. What makes the city unsafe, in fact, is not only the actual risk (the probability) of being victims of «predatory crimes” (pickpocketing, assaults, thefts, robberies or other violent acts) but also the perception of insecurity that is felt in certain spaces, closely related to urban decay and social unrest that manifest themselves in the form of «vandalism» (damage to street furniture, public goods, graffiti) and «soft crimes” (drug dealing, drug addiction, begging, prostitution, etc.). Among the most widely followed solutions in local policies are those that refer to the situational approach , which aims to hinder the perpetration of the criminal act. Situational preventive interventions can be applied both through urban maintenance and the design of defensible spaces (gates, video cameras, lighting, etc.), and through the deterrent control of the police on the territory. Reference is also sometimes made to preventive structural interventions that can concern both urban/physical spaces (think of the design of new neighborhoods or the redevelopment of degraded areas), as well as society in its various forms (through the bodies responsible for assistance, ducation, mediation, inclusion, etc.). Recently, moreover, interest in the environment and in the theme of greenery in general is experiencing significant momentum at the European level, so much so that in 2022 the European Commission proposed a regulation as part of the EU biodiversity strategy.