Non-Homogeneous Diffusion of Residential Crime in Urban China

Yicheng Tang, Xinyan Zhu, Wei Guo, Xinyue Ye, Tao Hu, Yaxin Fan and Faming Zhang
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Yicheng Tang: State Key Lab of Information Engineering in Surveying Mapping and Remote Sensing & Collaborative Innovation Center of Geospatial Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Xinyan Zhu: State Key Lab of Information Engineering in Surveying Mapping and Remote Sensing & Collaborative Innovation Center of Geospatial Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Wei Guo: State Key Lab of Information Engineering in Surveying Mapping and Remote Sensing & Collaborative Innovation Center of Geospatial Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Tao Hu: State Key Lab of Information Engineering in Surveying Mapping and Remote Sensing & Collaborative Innovation Center of Geospatial Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Yaxin Fan: State Key Lab of Information Engineering in Surveying Mapping and Remote Sensing & Collaborative Innovation Center of Geospatial Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Faming Zhang: State Key Lab of Information Engineering in Surveying Mapping and Remote Sensing & Collaborative Innovation Center of Geospatial Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: The relationship between crime and urban environment has always been the focus of crime geography. Like diseases which can transmit and diffuse, crimes may also spread during a certain period of time and to a certain area by the near-repeat effect. Traditional near-repeat analysis focuses on the spatial spread of crimes to adjacent areas, with little regard to the displacement effect. Crime displacement refers to the relocation of criminal events as a result of policing efforts. If this phenomenon is neglected, the near-repeat analysis will tend not to obtain the overall spatial distribution pattern of criminal cases, leading to limited effectiveness of crime control. This paper presents a non-homogeneous diffusion model where crime spreads not only to spatially and temporally adjacent areas, but also to areas with similar environmental characteristics. By virtue of spatial constraints and environmental characteristics, the most vulnerable areas are identified, and this will be helpful for developing policing strategy as well as for sustainable community development.

Keywords: crime; non-homogeneous diffusion model; environmental characteristics; urban China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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