Fear of crime may differ between areas, even if levels of crime do not differ. Policymakers and companies should be interested in how much economical values individuals put on their emotions. No previous paper has tried to estimate the economic consequences of the kind of fear of crime that does not stem from an increase in crime. Through a hedonic fixed effect-approach and a unique data set, I close this gap by estimating the willingness to pay to avoid that fear. As the outcome variable, I use sold apartments in Stockholm municipality in the years 2017 and 2020. I find suggestive evidence of small to moderate effect of fear of crime on housing prices, even after controlling for crime levels, with an elasticity of -2% to -6%. The results are robust throughout different robustness tests. These findings may help politicians in their cost-benefit analyses when planning safety-increasing projects.

Med tanke på den ökande oron som finns kring brottslighet och otrygghet är det viktigt att reflektera över vilka som bär ansvaret för att främja den kollektiva tryggheten. Tidigare forskning visar bland annat att brottslighet eller rädslan för att brott ska inträffa påverkar grannskapet och den psykiska hälsan på ett negativt sätt. Forskning visar även att genom samverkan mellan olika aktörer såsom polis, fastighetsägare och allmänhet, kan trygghetssatsningar bidra till ökad upplevd trygghet.    Denna studie ämnar bidra till forskningen om hur fastighetsägaren, tillsammans med hyresgästernas engagemang, kan påverka den positiva utvecklingen i ett bostadsområde och bidra till ett tryggare samhälle för bostadshyresgäster. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats och har kombinerat en fallstudie i Södra Sofielund/Seved med semistrukturerade intervjuer med nyckelpersoner inom fastighetsbranschen i aktuellt område. Syftet med studien är att undersöka på vilket sätt fastighetsägare samarbetar med hyresgäster i ett bostadsområde för att öka den upplevda tryggheten.    Resultatet visade att respondenterna har olika syn på hur mycket hyresgästerna kan involveras i trygghetsarbetet. Dock är majoriteten av respondenterna överens om att det behövs engagemang och trygghetsinsatser för att skapa sammanhållning och möjligheter för sociala interaktioner i området. För att möjliggöra för dessa insatser behövs dessutom samverkan, inte bara med de boende, utan med olika samhällsaktörer för att bekämpa effekterna av rädslan för brott. / Considering the increasing concern surrounding crime and insecurity, it is important to reflect on who bears responsibility for promoting collective security. Previous research indicates, among other things, that crime or the fear of crime negatively impacts neighborhoods and mental health. Research also shows that through collaboration among various societal stakeholders, including the police, property owners and the public, security initiatives can contribute to an increased sense of security.   This study aims to contribute to the research on how property owners, together with the engagement of tenants, can influence the positive development in a residential area and contribute to a safer society for residential tenants. The study has a qualitative approach and has combined a case study in Södra Sofielund/Seved with semi-structured interviews with key figures in the real estate industry in the relevant area. The purpose of the study is to examine how property owners collaborate with tenants in a residential area to enhance perceived security.   The results indicate that respondents have different views on the extent to which tenants can be involved in security work. However, the majority of respondents agree that involvement and security efforts are needed to create a sense of community and opportunities for social interactions in the area. Furthermore, to enable these efforts, collaboration is required not only with residents but also with various societal actors to combat the effects of the fear of crime.

Bro is an urban area located in Upplands-Bro municipality, Stockholm County. In 2020, the Stockholm Police conducted a security survey for all municipalities included in the Stockholm police region. The results of the survey for Upplands-Bro municipality show that many residents feel insecure about the risk of being exposed to crime. The residents experience that the feeling of insecurity is at its highest in Bro. The thesis is limited to investigating this in nine public spaces in central Bro. The purpose is to investigate whether previously crime-prone public spaces in built-up environments can evoke experiences of insecurity in people, despite their unawareness that they are old crime scenes. If people experience insecurity, the thesis aims to investigate which crime prevention measures can be applied in the design of public spaces to increase their security experiences there. In the essay, the student is named as the "investigator". The approach to the thesis applies several different methods. A safety survey is the thesis' main method, while a safety walk (method combination) is the secondary one. Initially, site analyzes are used as feasibility studies to carry out several site visits in the nine public spaces. (1) The first site visit is made to get to know the existing conditions of the sites and to create an overall picture. At the same time, the places are photographed in daylight. (2) Site visit no. 2 is made to photograph the sites in the evening darkness. (3) During the third site visit, the investigator conducts a safety walk, where a focus group of eight members (excluding the investigator) consisting of residents in Bro, is invited for interviews in the field. The intention with this is to take part in their experiences if the places feel unsafe and if there is a need for crime prevention measures to achieve increased security. (4) Site visit no. 4 is made to study in detail the spatial properties of the sites on the basis that the focus group has identified “insecurity problems” that are most in need of crime prevention measures for increased security. The crime prevention measures in the thesis include: (1) increased care of the outdoor environment, cutting shrubs and trees, (2) repairing broken materials, repainting, (3) removal of damage, graffiti and debris, (4) increased lighting, (5) to open up the site, remove dark spaces/hiding places, (6) increase the view of the site from buildings or through direct human supervision, (7) to add electrical safety systems such as camera surveillance/alarm/gate code or fences around the site. A safety survey is conducted with the intention of reaching out to all residents in the urban area of Bro. The survey mainly asks questions about: (1) how they experience security at the nine sites and (2) whether the sites need to be changed for increased security there, which creates a need for crime prevention measures. The questionnaire is sent out in collaboration with Upplands-Bro municipality's Street / Park / Traffic department and 247 locals answer the questionnaire. However, the response rate does not correspond to all of Bros' urban residents, which the investigator is aware of. To include all residents, the investigator has not requested biological sex or age in all methods. Thus, the investigator has disregarded what a possible distribution of answers between women and men or different age groups can look like. The answers from the safety walk and the survey are analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The method results are made visible in the form of photographs and diagrams with accompanying descriptive text about the results with the highest percentage that are perceived to be most prominent. The results are then visualized in an insecurity map, a form of heat map. The insecurity map is compared with the crime scene map to see if there is a connection between “unsafe places” and “previous crime scenes” in a combined map. In the analysis, the survey results are interpreted through the thesis' theoretical perspective and validated against the outcome of the safety walk. Based on the analysis, the investigator reads out what crime prevention measures residents point out to achieve increased security in the "unsafe places". Then the results are discussed and how they fulfill the purpose of the essay and answer the problem formulation and the questions. Finally, conclusions and recommendations for future studies are presented.