Crime and land use in Pittsburgh: A micro-size grid-cell analysis of the influence of land-uses on area crime

Though substantial amount of research of routine activities/opportunity theory investigated the relationship between land use and crime, very few studies considered various types of land uses at the micro-scale of area. Using 2013 crime data geocoded on the 500-ft2 grid cells overlaid on Pittsburgh, results from multivariate regression models show that certain types of facility such as retail shops, schools and bus stops increase the number of crimes at grid cells. Further results show that, net of the socioeconomic factors, the number of crimes in a grid cell varies both by facility and crime type. However, potential guardianship and target suitability of the facility are not found to have significant influence on the number of crimes in grid cells. Attention to various types of land uses across the city is required to help effective allocation of social control resources against crime. © 2016 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.