The Formation of Critical Points in Metropolises and its Consequences

The examination of critical points in metropolises shows the unpleasant consequences of the formation of these points, traumatic areas or hotspots. The purpose of this study was to identify, classify and rank these consequences.

In terms of its objectives, this study is of an applied-developmental research type and in terms of data collection procedure it is a descriptive-survey study which has been conducted using quantitative approach with the next ten-year horizon in Tehran metropolis. A researcher-made questionnaire containing 31 items was distributed among the experts and 44 analyzable questionnaires were collected. The collected data were analyzed after validation and the consequences that were confirmed by the one-sample t-test at 95% confidence level were ranked using Friedman test.

Thirty-one extracted consequences were endorsed and ranked in four socio-cultural, physical, control and supervision, and economic dimensions. Friedman's chi-square test with 30 degrees of freedom at the significant level 0.001 was equal to 149/498.

The results of the ranking of the extracted consequences show that the most important consequences of the formation of critical points in the metropolis are: "the juxtaposition of professional and long-term offenders" followed by "opportunities for crime in the environment" and "the potential for creation of criminal hotspot in the region". This means that the convergence of crime commitment as the result of the juxtaposition of criminals increases with the formation of critical points and strengthens the ground for criminal hotspot in the critical points. Therefore, with a view on these consequences and monitoring different areas of the city, it is necessary for the police and urban management to monitor the formation grounds and to prevent the formation of critical points.