The safety of public spaces on university campuses directly affects the mental and physical well-being of both faculty and students, significantly contributing to the stability and growth of the institution. Therefore, evaluating and optimizing the sense of security in these public areas is paramount. This study adopts a human-centric approach and selects five physical environmental metrics to construct a comprehensive safety perception model encompassing both day and night, using the analytic hierarchy process. By leveraging evaluation outcomes, a maximum coverage location-allocation model constrained by a facility service radius is employed to optimize the layout of the public amenities on campus, supported by empirical research conducted at the Wuchang Campus of the Wuhan Institute of Technology. The results indicate that a notable decrease in public areas provides a low sense of security to users and that an increase in public areas provides users with a high sense of security. The results demonstrate a considerable enhancement in both the daytime and nighttime sense of security due to the implemented optimization measures. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the constituent elements shaping the sense of security in campus public spaces, offering concrete strategies for their evaluation and enhancement, thereby fostering a more scientifically grounded layout of campus public facilities and advancing the creation of a harmonious and secure campus environment.