Space and crime in North-African city of Annaba : Using Space Syntax to understand the strategy of offenders in the choice of location of street crime

The study investigates the relationship between space and crime by using space syntax. The aim is to describe the spatial characteristics of the built environment and the spatial distribution of crime pattern. The space syntax variables are connected to the statistical data on street crime data registered in Annaba. This inquiry seeks to identify the spatial features of the crime locations to understand the relationship between the spatial configuration and crime behaviour. Most studies on space and crime in European cities deal with burglars and auto-theft. However, this inquiry focuses on two types of street crime, occurring frequently in urban open public space of Algerian cities, namely snatch theft and mugging. Therefore, the results from space syntax analyses of Annaba’ street network is made and put into GIS. Likewise, a crime registration map was generated in GIS to visualize the overall distribution patterns of crime. This map is correlated with various space syntax measures. Most European studies on space and crime shows that crime takes place in the more segregated and poorly connected streets. However, the finding of this research shows that the more integrated and well-connected and controlled streets are, the higher numbers of snatch theft and mugging. One explanation might be that segregated streets tend to have no potential victims, and hence, it affects the numbers of snatch theft and mugging.