&quot;But small-scaled urban spaces and a culture of walking and transit use also foster safety and, perhaps just as important, the perception of safety.&quot;<p>I thought of this while I was watching the video. Japanese suburban fabric is much more compact, fine grain, mixed-use and more spatially coherent than North American equivelents. These contribute to the&#x27;eyes on a street&#x27;[1] condition in which neighborhood stores and residences look out onto public streets and reinforce communal saftey. The cul-de-sacs and degenerate grids of North American suburbs not only make walking incredibly inefficient[2], but also increase the isolation and community-orientation of the streets.<p>[1] Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities
[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbankchoze.blogspot.ca&#x2F;2014&#x2F;10&#x2F;bad-habits-of-north-american-cities_9.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbankchoze.blogspot.ca&#x2F;2014&#x2F;10&#x2F;bad-habits-of-north-a...</a>