Following the Korean War, South Korea embarked on urban replacement and planning initiatives aimed at catalyzing economic growth, which led to a significant concentration of the urban population. During the 1970s and 1980s, the primary focus of urban ...
Following the Korean War, South Korea embarked on urban replacement and planning initiatives aimed at catalyzing economic growth, which led to a significant concentration of the urban population. During the 1970s and 1980s, the primary focus of urban planning was to establish an infrastructure that could support economic development and accommodate the mass migration from rural to urban areas. During this era, man-made disasters, a consequence of population density, were only temporarily addressed. Traditional responses to traffic accidents relied on traffic engineering and road traffic studies, crime was examined through criminology, and infectious diseases were approached medically, leaving a gap in the urban planning response to man-made disasters.
As cities expanded and adopted density-focused compact development, the potential for man-made disasters increased. The COVID-19 pandemic has particularly underscored the close link between infectious disease outbreaks and urban environments, influencing urban dwellers’ perceptions (personal factors) and behavior towards urban spaces. The pandemic-induced preference for personal vehicle use could lead to increased road congestion and, subsequently, higher rates of traffic accidents and crime. Thus, these disasters are interconnected, influencing urban environments and individual behaviors, and highlighting the need for comprehensive urban planning approaches.
Furthermore, the compact nature of modern cities and their physical and non-physical density foster social interactions that impact personal characteristics and behaviors. Human ecology suggests that an individual's traits are shaped by their urban environment and vice versa. This interaction between personal factors, behaviors, and the urban environment underscores the importance of urban planning strategies that account for the urban environment's influence on individual behavior.
This study concentrates on man-made disasters within urban environment, grounded in reciprocal determinism, and explores (1) the impact of government control policies on infectious disease transmission and the subsequent changes in individuals' perceptions (which are personal factors) and behaviors towards urban spaces, (2) the role of urban environments in influencing traffic accidents, with personal factors contributing to over 70% of accident occurrences, and (3) the derivation of physical and non-physical urban characteristics that impact the occurrence of violent crimes, based on theories of human personal factors, behavior, and urban environment relations such as routine activity theory and social disorganization theory.
(1) The study examines how governmental quarantine policies and urban environments influence individual perceptions (personal factors) and behavior changes, focusing on Seoul, South Korea, and Shanghai, China, due to their differing responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike typical man-made disasters directly caused by individual actions, this study emphasizes the role of external factors in infectious disease spread and how these factors, coupled with related policies, affect individuals' perceptions and behaviors.
The findings reveal that infectious disease spread alters individuals' risk perceptions and their views of the urban environment, with the intensity of governmental quarantine policies leading to notable differences between Seoul and Shanghai. For example, in Seoul, restrictions on indoor activities significantly reduced the preference for indoor urban spaces and leisure activities during the pandemic, with a corresponding increase in outdoor activity preferences. Conversely, in Shanghai, comprehensive control policies led to a similar reduction in indoor activity preferences without a significant shift towards outdoor activities, instead fostering a preference for home-centered activities.
(2) Traffic accidents are closely associated with personal factors, necessitating the consideration of driving behaviors and the impact of the urban environment during driving. By categorizing the population by age, this study aimed to identify urban environments' physical and non-physical characteristics that make certain groups more vulnerable to traffic accidents and to understand how urban traits affect drivers' personal factors.
As emphasized by reciprocal determinism, the findings indicate that the urban environment significantly impacts individual behavior (traffic accidents), with distinct effects based on personal factors. For example, elderly drivers are more susceptible to physical and non-physical characteristics of urban environments that generate pedestrian and vehicle traffic, likely due to diminished cognitive abilities that impair their judgment and response times in busy environments (e.g., areas with high subway station accessibility and commercial areas). Moreover, urban environments with high pedestrian traffic present challenges in visibility, increasing the likelihood of accidents due to the emergence of blind spots. These outcomes suggest the necessity of incorporating pedestrian-induced physical and non-physical environments into factors influencing traffic accidents and underscore the need for improvements in aptitude testing systems and driving conditions at accident-prone spots, especially for elderly drivers.
(3) Personal factors influencing criminal behavior are affected by the urban environment. Drawing on reciprocal determinism and criminological theories, such as routine activity theory and social disorganization theory, this study posits that crime is influenced by the urban environment, guardians' presence, and potential victims. Contrary to previous findings that vibrant urban interactions decrease crime occurrences, this study demonstrates that crime's nature and impact depend on individuals' personal ffactors using urban spaces. For example, areas with a concentrated working population showed a decreased likelihood of violent crimes, whereas areas with a high proportion of foreign residents or significant night-time population influx showed an increased crime risk.
Furthermore, social disorder was closely related to commercial activities, an essential component of urban vitality. Nightlife venues emerged as factors that increase the likelihood of crime, creating a negative spillover effect that concentrates the potential for crime in certain areas. Convenience stores operating 24/7 influenced crime due to urban characteristics such as dense population during nighttime hours and solitary operation, facilitating anonymity and promoting criminal behavior. The findings indicate that physical disorder factors (e.g., dilapidated buildings, parking lots, roads) identified in criminology do not significantly impact or only affect certain types of crime. Therefore, crime occurrences can vary based on the physical characteristics of urban environments and personal traits, suggesting that urban disorder (physical and social disorder), associated with the concentration of population and vitality, necessitates consideration in crime prevention policies.
In summary, based on reciprocal determinism, infectious diseases, traffic accidents, and crime, while representing different types of man-made disasters, are influenced by personal factors and the urban environment (physical structure, non-physical characteristics, government policies). Environmental changes in response to disasters affect personal factors, altering individual behaviors and perceptions of the urban environment. Specifically, urban crime and traffic accidents share vulnerabilities to density, necessitating targeted responses. The spread of infectious diseases highlights the vulnerability of densely populated environments, necessitating urban planning and design guidelines that consider safe space usage and susceptibility to disease spread, especially during pandemics.