Systematic Social Observation in The Hague 2011/2012

Systematic Social Observation of 61 items concerning land use, physical disorder, social disorder, physical condition of buildings, evidence of defensible space, traffic, formal and informal control and guardianship in the municipality of The Hague and surrounding areas. The disorder-observations are part of a project studying individual and contextual influences on adolescent offending: the SPAN-project. The SPAN-project used a Space Time Budget method to collect information about spatial activity patterns of adolescents . The Space Time Budget method inventorised adolescents’ whereabouts on observation units of 200 by 200 metre (‘gridcells’). These grids were determined regardless of the neighborhood-bounderies defined by the local government. The 200 by 200 metre-gridcells were used as a basis for the units of observation. The disorder-observations will be used to detect contextual influences on adolescent offending.