| Abstract: | Understanding the spatial dimension of fear of crime in the urban environment is important to understanding behaviors in response to this concern. Making this connection between perception and action has long been a goal of scholars in the social and health sciences, though this complex relationship has yet to be fully elucidated. Specifically, in studies on fear of crime and its influence on behavior, a variety of definitions and methods have been employed. This situation has yielded insights, as well as inconsistencies. In the past decade, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has been added to this methodological mix, though it too has contributed limited understanding of the environmental perception-behavior nexus. During this time, some scholars have integrated a traditional technique for accessing environmental perception, the sketch map, with this newer technology. This article provides a review and critical assessment of the way GIS has been used to understand fear of crime, specifically through the integration of sketch maps. This focus is framed by an overview of substantive and methodological concerns and concludes with a discussion of continued research needs. As behavioral responses to fear of crime are acknowledged to impact physical and mental health and overall well-being, in addition to the viability of neighborhoods, research in this area will continue apace. However, for integration of sketch maps in GIS to be a valuable methodological contributor to this line of inquiry, users of the approach must understand its complexities. This article outlines these issues so that they may be considered in future research and may improve the ability for this approach to yield new understanding of fear of crime. |
