Assessing Urban Safety in Public Parks. The Case of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area

Public green spaces emerge as vital pillars for fostering social resilience and crime reduction, as their physical configuration directly shapes human behaviour and the perceived sense of security. While existing literature underscores the importance of factors like visibility and maintenance, a significant methodological gap persists in creating assessment models that are both scientifically rigorous and seamlessly integrable into urban planning workflows. To address this challenge, the present research, supported by the EU-funded research project “SeTUP - Security Town through Urban Planning”, introduces a decision-support framework that integrates Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) techniques. This study proposes a methodology to assess the perceived safety of urban parks, to support a replicable, planning-oriented decision-making process. The results of the analysis led to a ranking of the analysed urban parks based on their safety levels. The use of the E-TOPSIS method allowed us to map spatial patterns and identify the most critical variables affecting perceived safety. The methodology is validated through an application within the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB). Examining a sample of 52 parks, the research highlights the AMB’s focus on green infrastructure as outlined in the Metropolitan Urban Master Plan (PDUM). To evaluate the spatial implications of the findings, the PDUM’s priority area maps for open spaces and public facilities were overlapped via GIS, with the data layer representing the most critical parks identified. The results not only offer a new methodological approach for planners but also provide practical insights for local administrations.