Sense of safety and urban environment. A research in the city of Genoa

The ecological perspective has been used in literature to study the features of the life environment that influences the people quality of life and other relevant topics like the sense of safety and sense of unsafety. The perception of living in a safe place seems to play an important role in the well-being process, since, as known, the sense of safety is considered a fundamental need of people. The aim of this research is to explore the subjects' feeling of safety associated with living in the urban context, their psychological well-being, and their perception of urban quality. A further purpose, relevant to the same subjects, is to analyse their feeling of safety about their children (preadolescents). A self-report questionnaire has been submitted to 126 adults, parents of preadolescents living in a suburb of city of Genoa. This is composed by the following issues: questions about sense of safety/unsafety in the residential area; the Ryff and Keyes (1995) "Psychological Well-being Scale" the Bonaiuto, Aiello, Perugini, Bonnes, Ercolani (1999) "Perceived Quality of Residential Environment Scales" a demographic information form.