Does context matter? Older adults’ safety perceptions of neighborhood environments in Sweden

Vanessa Stjernborg and Roya Bamzar, bookchapter in Crime and Fear in Public Places - Towards Safe, Inclusive and Sustainable Cities, July 2020

This chapter draws on two case studies on safety perceptions among older adults living in different cities in Sweden: Stockholm and Malmö. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the study. Results show that older adults express signs of behavioral responses as a result of fear of crime and/or poor safety perceptions regardless of study areas and city contexts, such as distance decay strategy, and time avoidance. Findings also call for a more comprehensive discussion about the role that context (in this case, social and geographical) plays for everyday mobility and perceived safety in later life.