The impact of plants offering cover on female students’ perception of danger in urban green spaces in crime hot spots

Urban parks and forests are important for wellbeing, but feelings of insecurity limit their usage. Removal of vegetation from hotspots of fear is sometimes recommended as a means of boosting safety. However, such actions should be approached with caution. One explanation, based on prospect-refuge theory, is that plants increase perceptions of danger because of their contribution to a setting’s effectiveness in concealing criminals. It is also believed that people do not like urban parks containing trees and shrubs that can act as hiding places because of the sense of danger that this vegetation evokes. To test this explanation, participants (female students) rated 57 photos of urban parks settings in terms of perceived danger, effectiveness of concealment, and landscape preference. In addition, the effectiveness of concealment in the photos was measured, assuming that the value of this variable is expressed by the percentage of the pixels occupied by trees and shrubs offering concealment in a photograph. Results confirmed that concealment and danger are strongly correlated. Mediation analysis confirmed that the impact of concealment on preferences can be explained by perceived danger. When danger was controlled, the efficiency of concealment had no influence on preferences.