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ied to give a full explanation for the relationship between environmental variables and crime. He classified environment into two categories-- physical environment and social environment. Physical environment referred to the structure and design of an area. For example, parks, leisure grounds, street patterns, commercial complexes and centers are the basic com ponents of the physical environment. Social environment referred to a set of contexts which form the basis for social interaction outside the home such as school, recreation and neighborhood. Davidson's study suggested how both the social and physical environment provide opportunities for delinquency. The latest studies about physical environment and crime by Taylor and Harrell (1996) show how physical features like housing design or block layout, land use, territorial features, and physical deterioration relate to crime risk. My study will attempt to define and examine the pattern of such environmental variables in Tuen Mun, Tseung Kwan O and Kowloon City. Differences in the kinds of environmental factors found in the three study areas may provide hypothetically an explanation for differences in juvenile crime in Hong Kong. Rational Choice Clarke (1983, 1993) has applied the "rational choice" perspective to a range of crimes. His studies examined how offenders think about a crime situation and how they choose the most "suitable" environment and opportunity to operate in or target to select. It suggests that the environmental features of a place will probably affect a potential offender's perceptions about a possible crime site, thei r evaluations of the likelihood of success and the availability and visibility of guardians. (Clarke, 1983, 1993, Felson, 1994, Taylor and Harrell, 1996) Therefore, my study will explore how juvenile offenders perceive such environmental variables and test whether they commit delinquency in a rational fashion. A study by Beavon (1984, cited in Felson,1994) demonstrated this rational choice assumption by showing that a shop located in an area with more converging stree ts suffered more crime than those located elsewhere. Because the street junction s and intersections made the offender feel that it was more convenient to access , escape and hide. With this kind of example in mind, my study seeks to find out how similar sorts of environmental features in Tuen Mun influence juvenile deli nquents to make this type of rational choice. Crime Prevention Through Environment Design (CPTED) CPTED studies provide numerous detailed description and explanations of the rela tionship between crime and place with a view to minimize crime. For example, Jan e Jacobs(1961) found a greater tendency for crime to occur in large publicly acc essible areas created by the newer forms of urban planning. She pointed out that the new forms of design broke down many of the traditional controls on criminal behavior, for example, the ability of residents to watch the street and the pre sence of people using the street both night and day. She suggested that the lack of "natural guardianship" in the environment promoted crime. A decade later Osc ar Newman (1972, 1980) contributed a seminal work on crime prevention and enviro nment, using such concepts as "defensible space", "natural surveillance", and "c ommunity of interest". Concerning the relationship between the prevalence or abs ence of "guardianship" or "surveillance" and crime occurrence