Are Sport Clubs Mediating Urban Expressive Crimes? – London as the Case Study

The study is referenced by interdisciplinary theories, i.e., routine activity, and social cohesion, to investigate the impacts of sport clubs and events on London’s expressive crimes at varied geographical scales, by utilizing machine learning algorithms and Geographical-temporally weighted regression model. It has identified the spatial patterns of effects from sport clubs’ onto local expressive crimes among London wards, with several boroughs standing out for their being significantly affected. The case study in the home borough of the Hotspur Football Club has further been conducted, by proving the seasonal influences of sports clubs on reducing youth violence within school terms. It was also found disproportional increases in expressive crimes on Premium League match days, especially when receiving the results of draw. The data-driven evidence has generated insights on localized policies and strategies on developing tailored sports to support local young people’s development; pinpointing the optimisation of police forces resources on stop and search practices during sports events in hot spot stadiums. The methodology and workflow had also been proved with high replicability into other UK cities.