Community Work as a Factor in Public Safety

Research period: 1 March 2020 to 31 December 2022

The project aims to use elaborate impact evaluations to provide sound knowledge of the effects of various GWA approaches in public spaces and to promote evidence-based practice.

International research on safety in public spaces illustrates the multitude of factors of insecurity and insecurity that interact in complex ways on a physical-spatial, individual/psychological and social level. Problematic situations such as damage to property, noise pollution, discriminatory spatial displacement and appropriation processes through to incidents of physical violence and bodily harm all play a role, even if their causes and constellations can be very different. In fact, this can put great strain on communal coexistence and also on the personal sense of security of users and neighbours of public spaces.

In addition to conventional measures (technical surveillance, increased police presence, etc.), social measures are an important safety factor in public spaces that can strengthen respectful, interest-sensitive negotiation, empowerment and civic engagement in social spaces. Community work (GWA) is an internationally recognised concept that aims to improve the living conditions of people in a community with the participation of those affected. It promotes the ability to act and self-organisation in the sense of collective empowerment. GWA is seen as a strategy for reducing violence in the community and increasing subjective and objective safety.

• Various GWA approaches currently exist in Austria, but there is a lack of well-founded, meaningful knowledge about the effectiveness of the implemented approaches. However, only on such a knowledge base can the practice actually be further developed in an innovative and evidence-based manner - in other words, best practice can emerge.
• The research project uses meaningful impact evaluation to generate scientifically sound findings on the safety-relevant effects of various GWA approaches in public spaces.
• Building on this, overarching and context-specific success factors and guidelines for the evidence-based design and implementation of community safety projects will be identified and their transferability to other municipalities and contexts will be examined. They are systematically communicated to relevant demand groups in Austria and transformed together with them into practical knowledge for action.

• Comprehensive knowledge of the effects of four evaluated GWA measures in public spaces
• Catalogue of evidence-based success factors for the conception, design and implementation of innovative community safety approaches in public spaces
• Recommendations for action/implementation for municipal decision-makers, public safety organisations and other safety partners (e.g. police/prevention officers),
• Tool for impact-orientated self-evaluation for GWA measures in public spaces

BMI - Federal Ministry of the Interior

Inclusive, Social and Secure Society

Competence Center for Social Work

Dr Hemma Mayrhofer, IRKS - Institute for the Sociology of Law and Crime

Andrea^Fritsche, research staff, Institute for the Sociology of Law and Crime

FH-Prof. Dr Andreas Bengesser, Head of Competence Center for Social Work, Teaching and Research, Economist

FH-Prof. Christoph Stoik, MA, qualified social worker, teaching and research