Feeling unsafe in Italy’s biggest cities

Abstract

Crime and fear of crime are key challenges for civic coexistence in contemporary cities, specifically because of the unequal relationship between the two phenomena. In the case of Italy, for instance, even though crime has been trending downward over the past few decades, people are increasingly concerned about their safety. Based on survey data (N = 6002) collected in Milan, Naples, Rome, and Turin, this research provides a cross-city comparison of the factors that influence individuals’ feelings of unsafety. The results of a multi-group structural equation model endorse the prior literature by revealing that being the victim of a crime predicts higher levels of subjective unsafety. On the other hand, perceived disorder in the neighbourhood, community disaffection, and objective and subjective measures of social exclusion are also consistent predictors of residents’ fears in all four cities. All in all, the model outputs indicate that non-criminal factors have a higher explanatory power than victimization for perceived unsafety. The implications of these findings for urban safety management are discussed.