Tarkhanyan, L; (2015) Urban design and drug crime: uncovering the spatial logic of drug crime in relation to the urban street network and land use mosaic in London. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This multidisciplinary research is concerned with the ways in which the morphology of the urban landscape may affect the spatial distribution of drug crime incidents. Following from this rationale, the research pursued the following three objectives. First, the research explored where drug dealers are known to sell drugs, and the extent to which and in what ways these places differ from those places that they do not. In particular, the research focused on examining whether the types of places at which drugs are sold have the street network characteristics of places that offer good retail potential. Employing space syntax technique and event count regression models, the analysis showed that street permeability and proximity to high street significantly increase the likelihood of drug crime. Second, the research examined drug crime in relation to legal facilities, which inherently and routinely generate large flows of people. Using network distance buffers, the criminogenic fields of the facilities were identified. The regression results showed that not only the facility itself attracts crime, but the facility’s specific configurational positioning on the street network also influences the likelihood of crime. The last part of the research examined the relative positioning of drug dealing locations in the city with reference to the level of permeability, the drug types and quantities being sold per street segments. The results showed a spatial differentiation amongst varying drug types according to their drug classes. The overall picture suggested that the urban fabric, particularly the characteristics of the street network configuration and the way land uses are distributed across the street network, have a great effect on drug occurrences.

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