Urban parks can provide valuable recreation opportunities for the 70
percent of Americans who reside in cities (USDI 1978). Yet many existing
sites are underused, in part because they are often seen as undesirable, threat-
ening places where crimes frequently occur ('Jacobs 1961). This article de-
scribes an effort to identify characteristics that affect the user's perception of
personal safety in public recreation sites. The relation between perceived secu-
rity and visual attractiveness will also be addressed, because both factors may
be related to visibility in and utilization of park settings (Nasar 1982).