Abstract:
Irrespective of having confronted a crime or not, many users feel insecure in public spaces. This
feeling of insecurity is directly related to the mental conditions of an individual and sometimes to
many other environmental cues or different physical elements. This insecurity is perceived frequently
in urban streets as it is a widely used urban component by most of the urbanites. Out of the many
physical elements present in streets, trees play a vital role in aesthetic quality, thermal comfort and
enhancing physical and mental health of the users. Up until now, only a limited amount of research
has been carried out in search of the contribution of trees on the assuarance psychological safety of
the pedestrians. This study aims to identify the impact from different characteristics of trees in urban
streets on the psychological safety of the pedestrians. This is achieved through an exploratory survey
study in identifying the characteristics of trees and, an evaluation of the appropriateness of the
explored characteristics in ensuring psychological safety in urban context of Sri Lanka. The
exploratory study has identified a total of 11 characteristics of trees as important in assuring
psychological safety. The evaluation was conducted with the aid of a questionnaire using 7 point
rating scale, and a total of 60 responses from both experts (with more than 5 year experience in
designing, planning and similar disciplines) and non-experts (general public) were obtained for the
analysis through snowball sampling technique. The results from the questionnaire indicated that the
relative size of the tree (with respect to human scale) make the highest impact on the psychological
safety of the users whereas the texture of the tree bark makes the least impact. Mann Whitney U test
results claim that only the response for spread of the canopy has shown differences across two
samples where experts claim a high importance when compared with the non-experts. Extension of
these results for a comprehensive outcome can be accommodated in the planning and designing of
urban streets in a tropical country like Sri Lanka.
Keywords: Psychological safety; Trees; Urban streets; Pedestrians
