Do urban renewal programs make suburbs safer? A fine-grained GIS and space syntax study of an urban renewal project in the city of Toulouse

ABSTRACT

This paper evaluates the impact of urban renewal programs (PRU) on creating a safe environment. People’s perceptions of PRU and its impact on security were collected through questionnaires and sketch maps. This study applies a space syntax approach to analyse the spatial and structural properties of successive urban space evolutions and compare them with people’s perceptions of security. The findings reveal a strong correlation between areas with high levels of social housing concentration, poverty rates and insecurity. Surprisingly, visually controlled areas are vulnerable and attractive locations for drug trafficking. Density indicators have a minor influence on the perception of insecurity.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban renewal program (PRU)
• security vs. insecurity
• space syntax
• density
• accessibility
• visibility

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to sincerely thank the following individuals and organizations for their valuable contributions to this project: L. Gwiazdzinski, P. Fernandez, S. Faraut and M. Zendjebil (LRA ENSA Toulouse); A. Courtiade (TMH); J. Torres and F. Cavalho (Toulouse Metropole); C. Labdaoui and all the residents of Grand Mirail.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This project was carried out at LRA (ENSA-Toulouse) and was funded by the ATLAS short-term post-doctoral mobility program of the Arab Council for Social Sciences (ACSS) and the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (FMSH).