Fear in the city Fear is one of the most basic of human emotions that is linked to our inbred instinct for survival. Fear is the perception of a threat to some aspect o well-being concurrent with the feeling of inability to meet the challenge. Two principal sources of fear in contemporary urban environments are fear of crime and of terrorist attack. Three main explanations for fear of crime have been advanced. These view fear of crime as the product of victimisation. as the consequence of a breakdown in social control. or as being mediated by the built environment. The first thesis relates fear of crime to experiences of victimisation or to a perceived risk of victimisation. The social control thesis posits that fear of crime is linked with individuals' ability to exercise control over their own life and the behaviour of others. Fear may be affected by community disintegration and poor neighbouhood amenities rather than high actual crime rates. In the environmental thesis fear of crime is embedded in the physical and social characteristics of place, and the familiarity of that place to the individual. People interpret the urban environment in terms of risk factors. Fear of crime is thus related to urban form and the ways in which urban spaces are of utilised and given meaning. In practice, each these perspectives contributes to understanding fear of crime.