Abstract
Crime is an important social phenomenon that affects many aspects of the functioning of society and the life of every person. It also represents an important interdisciplinary topic that deals with a number of disciplines.
The importance of geography is particularly in the enrichment of the crime research on spatial dimension and contribution to its cognition through analysis of the distribution of crime and studies of perception of crime. This doctoral thesis introduces geography of crime in the Czech context, discusses its theoretical and methodological developments and its applicability and application in our cities.
More emphasis is put on the concept of fear of crime, which constitutes an essential component of feeling of safety affecting daily life, the use of urban space and spatial mobility of individuals. This doctoral thesis consists of two parts.
The first part introduces the main assumptions of the thesis and summarizes the development and basic research approaches to crime in geography. The following chapter represents the core of the thesis – discussion of the concept of fear of crime, differentiated perception of fear by various population groups and the role of the residential environment and particular types of places on feeling of safety.
The first part also discusses methodological issues and barriers for this research in Czechia. The second part of the doctoral thesis consists of a set of five publications focused on geography of crime and safety research.
The first article reflects the development of the study of crime from the perspective of geography in Czechia, emphasizes the development of themes, methodologies and scaling levels. The remaining publications represent the results of specific empirical research on fear of crime that have been realized in various parts of Prague and its hinterland.