This article systematically reviews over two decades of English-language literature on gated communities (GCs) in urban and rural settings. Searching peer-reviewed articles from Scopus and Web of Science published between 2000 and 2024, we identified 202 studies for analysis. Findings indicate a geographical shift in research from Western countries to those of the Global South, where GCs proliferate, reflecting global trends in privatised, exclusive living. Increased privacy, exclusivity, and cohesiveness are associated with GCs, but long-term evidence on crime reduction is mixed, with several studies linking CGs with a false sense of security, spatial segregation, greater car dependency, and reduced walkability. The article concludes by exploring the role of technology in the gating process and analysing recent research shifts that uncover the paradoxical role of GCs in relation to women’s safety.

Objectives: We analyze the impact of the “Stoppa droghandeln” (“Stop the drug trade”) program, a set of safety interventions aimed at reducing crime, particularly drug-related crimes, in a small Swedish municipality (Österåker) from 2018 to 2023. Methods: We use a count-based synthetic control approach to compare police crime data before and after beginning the safety interventions (“Stop the drug trade”). This quasi-experimental design was used to infer the causal effects of “Stop the drug trade” on crime, using an evaluation framework including several robustness tests with different crime types. Cluster detection analysis was also used to monitor potential changes in the geography of open drug markets. Results: In 2023, Österåker performed better than 82% of all Swedish municipalities for drug-related offenses. Estimates indicate that 3221 crimes were prevented in Österåker, including 589 less drug-related offenses. However, the non-significant p-values suggest that Österåker’s crime reduction did not outperform most other municipalities. While this could be due to other municipalities implementing their own interventions, the magnitude and consistency of the treatment effects across crime types in Österåker make it unlikely that these results occurred by chance. In terms of geography, clusters of drug-related offenses were stable, and after the interventions, they became more concentrated in particular places. Conclusions: This study’s findings underscore the potential impact of a blend of social and situational crime prevention interventions to reduce drug-related offenses and other crimes in a small municipality. The Österåker case demonstrates that strategies should target specific types of crime and monitor possible shifts in crime concentration across different parts of the study area over time. The synthetic control method helped isolate the impact of safety interventions on drug-related crime, demonstrating its value as a tool for policy evaluation.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka betydelsen av platsförvaltning för säkerhet och trygghet i bostadsområden. Med stöd i situationella brottspreventionsprinciper och platshanteringsteorin inleds studien med en kvantitativ analys av hur brott koncentreras till flerbostadshus i Stockholm, samt hur denna koncentration varierar beroende på brottstyp och ägandeförhållanden (privata respektive kommunala bostadsbolag). Därefter analyseras det svenska brottsförebyggande förvaltningsarbetet baserat på data från enkäter riktade till platsförvaltare i Sverige samt till boende i fallstudieområden i Stockholm och Växjö. Studien utgår från principer inom platshanteringsteorin och använder dessa som analytisk referensram för att synliggöra hur förvaltningsinsatser tar form i det dagliga brottsförebyggande och trygghetsskapande arbetet. Resultaten visar en markant brottskoncentration per byggnad i Stockholms kommun, där ett litet antal byggnader står för en oproportionerligt stor del av den totala brottsligheten, med viss variation mellan brottstyper. Detta mönster kvarstår även när hänsyn tas till byggnadsstorlek och antal lägenheter. Analysen visar också att ägandeform har betydelse: i vissa brottstyper uppvisar kommunala bostadsbolag högre nivåer av brottsintensitet per lägenhet, medan privata fastighetsägare i högre grad uppvisar mycket koncentrerade mönster i en mindre del av beståndet. Resultaten visar att både strukturella förutsättningar och förvaltningspraxis påverkar den mikrogeografiska variationen i brottsnivå.

Platsförvaltare utgör en heterogen yrkesgrupp vars arbete ofta underskattas. De flesta av de svarande arbetar i betydligt högre grad med säkerhet och trygghet än de själva är medvetna om, och många fungerar som förvaltningsbolagets ansikte utåt i det dagliga arbetet, vilket innebär en omfattande exponering för klagomål och ibland obehagliga beteenden. Ett genomgående mönster i både storstadsoch mindre stadskontext är att platsförvaltare och bostadsorganisationer utgör centrala aktörer i boendes vardagliga hantering av ordnings- och trygghetsproblem. Boende i både Stockholm och Växjövänder sig i hög grad till förvaltare, hyresvärd eller bostadsrättsförening vid vanliga problem i huset och dess närområde. I Sverige är det dessutom relativt vanligt att platsförvaltare och bostadsbolag engagerar sig året runt i sociala aktiviteter för de boende för att öka trivseln, vilket skiljer sig från många andra länder. Genom att skapa ett platsförvaltningsindex undersöktes hur olika områden såg ut ur de boendes perspektiv vad gäller platsförvaltningsrutiner, och detta kopplades till självrapporterade brott,polisstatistik, trygghet och social sammanhållning i relation till ägandeform i både Stockholm och Växjö.

Resultaten visar att boende generellt upplever platsförvaltningens kvalitet (det vill säga platsförvaltningsindexet) som lägre inom allmännyttan, men att det finns stora variationer mellan studieområden och bostadsbolag i både Stockholm och Växjö.

Ett viktigt resultat från regressionsmodellerna är att boende i byggnader med tydliga rutiner för tillsyn,god fysisk miljö, fungerande tillträdeskontroll och aktiv kommunikation med förvaltaren rapporterar lägre otrygghet och färre problem kopplade till skadegörelse, ordningsstörningar och obehöriga. Med ORKAramverket framträder organisering av utrymmen som den mest betydelsefulla dimensionen för både förvaltning och boendes upplevda trygghet, där underhåll och reparationer ingår. Det är oklart varför högre kontroll av tillträde kopplas till brott, men detta kan sannolikt spegla omvänd kausalitet.

Dimensionerna reglering av beteende och resursallokering uppvisar en mer begränsad betydelse i materialet. Vi rekommenderar att i större kommuner, där styrstrukturer kan vara mer komplexa, är standardiserade rutiner och organisatoriskt stöd för platsförvaltare särskilt viktiga, framför allt inom allmännyttan. Detta kräver detaljerad kännedom av lokala problem eftersom de varierar mellan områden och beroende på såväl kommunal som nationell kontext. Skillnader mellan offentligt och privat boende understryker behovet av ägandeformsanpassade strategier. I mindre kommuner kan närhet och lokalkännedom utnyttjas, förutsatt att platsförvaltares brottsförebyggande och trygghetsskapande arbete får organisatoriskt stöd, att de besitter kunskap om de specifika problemen och kan planera sitt arbete med långsiktighet och en gemensam vision.

This study examines the concentration of crime at residential buildings and investigates whether housing ownership has an impact on such a concentration. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), police-recorded crime data were geocoded at the building level and combined with socio-demographic and land use variables in Poisson regression models. The results indicate that a small percentage of buildings is responsible for a large proportion of crimes. This pattern persists even after offences are standardised by the number of apartments. Buildings under private housing ownership are generally associated with lower crime levels than those under rental; however, this relationship is not uniform across private housing companies and different types of crime. Findings point to the need for further research into how building-level management practices interact with neighbourhood-wide policing strategies and other micro-level factors, such as a building’s design, location, and accessibility, in shaping crime outcomes.

This paper examines everyday social interactions on public transport, focusing on acts of incivility observed along a busy inner-city bus route in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Using systematic observations with a fieldwork protocol, we adopt a mixed-methods approach, including logistic regression models to analyse these travel behaviours. The range of behaviours observed is broad and difficult to classify. Of 119 observed interactions, 83 instances were categorised as acts of incivility, not directed at one person but towards those travelling on the bus (‘diffuse incivility’), such as playing music loudly or disrupting exits. The regression model explains over half of the variation in observed transit incivility, with incivilities significantly more likely to occur on weekends and farther from the driver’s cabin. Targeted, context-specific measures, such as signage addressing group behaviours, can help prevent undesirable conduct and encourage acts of courtesy between travellers on buses.

This study examines the nature and levels of homicides in Pernambuco, a northeastern Brazilian state with a long history of rural violence. Drawing on over 19,870 homicide records (2017-2022), we use spatial data analysis techniques and Negative Binomial regression to investigate the spatiotemporal distribution of these killings. Although violence tends to be concentrated in urban centres such as the metropolitan area of Recife, its nature varies markedly across the rural-urban continuum. In remote, impoverished regions, killings often involve bladed weapons, arising from interpersonal male conflicts, but also include femicide, while, in major centres, homicides mainly arise from drug trafficking and disputes between gangs, and are often committed using firearms. Additionally, high homicide rates along state borders point to the role of cross-border interactions and economic activities in driving violence in these areas. Findings reveal the shortcomings of mainstream criminological theories in capturing the normalization of violence in contexts marked by profound socio-economic inequalities and enduring conflict. By challenging the myth of rural areas as homogeneous and inherently non-violent, the study offers a more nuanced understanding of the patterns and drivers of lethal violence in a part of the Global South that has yet to be fully explored in the international literature.

The objective of this article is to investigate the spatiotemporal patterns of homicides in Recife, a major touristdestination in northeastern Brazil. We begin by analysing the distribution of homicides in relation to periods toassess later how different types of urban land uses, including leisure-related facilities, affect lethal violence usingnegative binomial regression models, over the period from 2017 to 2022. The findings indicate that some leisurerelatedareas, not all, contribute to shaping the spatial distribution of homicides. Yet lethal violence in Recife’simpoverished neighbourhoods remains chronically high throughout the year. These results highlight the dualchallenge faced by the city: managing seasonal risks linked to tourism while addressing persistent structuralviolence rooted in social inequality and organised crime.

While the Nordics have long acted as champions of gender equality, there is still a need for a more nuanced understanding of gendered differences in safety and well-being. A large body of research on masculinity and fear has found men to express fear in public space to a lesser extent than women, perpetuating a notion of men as ‘fearless’. In this study, we challenge this notion by seeking a better understanding of men's overall fear of victimization as well as how fear impacts their behavior where they live, in relation to places, people, and everyday routines. Using statistical methods, chi-square analysis and binary logistic regression, we investigate the nature of men's fear and the effect fear has on their lives using 20,781 answers from the 2020 Stockholm Safety Survey. Findings indicate that while men are generally less fearful than women, intersections between respondents' gender, income level, and ethnic background show a complementary picture. Foreign-born and low-income resident men expressed similar or even higher levels of neighborhood fear than women. Additionally, the drivers of men's general fear of crime and neighborhood-related fear were found to differ, where results for Swedish-born and foreign-born men show opposing patterns for each measure. Men who live in neighborhoods with more physical disorder and low social cohesion are also more likely to avoid places and engagement with people where they live, as well as changing routine activities. The paper finishes with recommendations for future research.

Public lighting is widely used in crime prevention, yet its effects on perceived safety across different socio-demographic groups remain understudied, particularly in highly unequal urban contexts of the Global South. This study examines how the perceived quality of public lighting influences residents' feelings of safety in Brazilian cities. Using data from the 2021 Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD-C), which includes information on individual, neighborhood, and regional characteristics (N = 47,438), we estimate ordered logit models to assess whether and how lighting quality affects safety perceptions when walking alone at night near one's home. Three research questions guide the analysis: Does perceived lighting quality influence safety perception? Do these effects vary by gender and ethnic background? And are they moderated by contextual and regional factors? The results show that poor lighting significantly decreases perceived safety, particularly among women and non-white respondents, even after controlling for socioeconomic and neighborhood characteristics. Findings indicate that lighting functions both as a physical and symbolic component of urban safety. Improving and maintaining public lighting, especially in disadvantaged areas, represents an inclusive and practical strategy to strengthen urban safety, reduce gendered and racial inequalities, and support sustainable development in cities of the Global South.