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Degree

Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Civil Engineering, 2006.

Abstract

Evaluating the performance of user safety of an environment against crimes has many challenges. Firstly, safety is not a quantity that can be measured. Although many statistical measurements are used as a reference for safety performance analysis, they do not reflect the real condition of the environment. Secondly, the relationship between crimes and environmental designs need to be clarified so improvements of the design can be justified. Thirdly, an indicator that can be used as a standard of the safety performance of the environment must be established in order to prioritize the improvement. Lastly, a program that demonstrates the evaluation of the safety performance analysis is needed to facilitate the evaluation process. This research focuses on the examinations of factors that affect the safety of users in a constructed environment, specifically a campus parking garage. Two survey data sets were used for statistical analysis. One data set was derived from a study in 2004 that prescribed the Crime Prevention through Environmental Design approach as the primary tool against crimes and as the basis for safety evaluation. The second set of data was from an Internet survey which included 12 parking garages at The Ohio State University. This survey was conducted in 2006 for the compilation of the responses of users and for determining the environmental designs. The result of this study shows that 5 independent environmental factors: completeness of safety components, distance, illumination, environmental isolation, and circulation can be used to explain the variation of safety performance for campus parking garages. A computer program named Safety Performance Analyzer for Constructed Environments was built for the safety evaluation of the environment and demonstration of the optimal solution with intelligence embedded in the program. Functions of this program include database queries for the survey result, demonstration of results of the factor analysis, design of the knowledge base, graphical representation of the analysis, and VR models. This study provides a direction for analyzing the safety performance of a constructed environment. The potential implementations of this program include the design process, the safety improvement program, examination of the current environment, and the learning experience.

Keywords

fuzzy logic; safety; performance; artificial intelligence; construction; environmental design; CPTED; virtual reality; garage; factor analysis; safety index

Advisor

Fabian C Hadipriono

Pages

270p.

Document number: osu1148572816
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1148572816

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