*Article* **E** ff**ectiveness of Fear and Crime Prevention Strategy for Sustainability of Safe City**

**Seng Boon Lim 1,\*, Chee Kong Yong 2, Jalaluddin Abdul Malek 1,\*, Mohd Fuad Mat Jali 1, Abd Hair Awang 1 and Zurinah Tahir 1**


Received: 16 October 2020; Accepted: 29 November 2020; Published: 18 December 2020

**Abstract:** Crime is a manifestation of incivility that society attempts to curb, ye<sup>t</sup> faces enormous challenges, as crime is a by-product of urbanization and human advancement. As more agglomeration of the population in cities around the globe, humankind's safety from being threatened by crime needed to be safeguard to sustain everyday living in cities. Humans' co-existence with crime and fear of crime in cities vis-a-vis e fforts preventing it from occurring has been widely carried out in developed countries. An increasing trend is showing in emerging and developing countries. Therefore, this article provides empirical evidence regarding a safe city program launched in Malaysia. This study aims to identify the factors contributing to the prevention of crime and fear of crime. This study employed a survey questionnaire to 400 pedestrians' perceptions of Kuala Lumpur city's central business district. The result showed that prevention methods through the actor of "capable guardians" (i.e., authorities) are e ffective; however, methods through the actor of "suitable victims" (i.e., communities) is ine ffective. Further studies should explore perspective of the actor of "likely offenders" (i.e., criminals) to fill in the gap of safe city program's e ffectiveness and sustainability.

**Keywords:** broken windows theory; crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED); crime prevention methods through social development (CPSD); criminology; delinquency; routine activities theory; safe cities; safe streets; urban studies
