CPTED is a theory of discouraging crime through architecture and urban planning. Think consideration for circulation routes, lighting, ‘eyes on the street’, and encouraging positive use of space.
Embedding crime prevention on a project-by-project basis would have a highly scalable impact. In the UK, Aus, and in Europe, some local and city authorities have local urban plans which usually require designs to have a positive impact in reducing crime and increasing community safety through consideration for security.
So I wonder if expanding this through planning policy and connecting it further into social treatments for crime could have a large impact.
While will not treat the direct economic and social causes of crime, it would:
Provide the environment to help stop crime propagating.
Support well-designed cities, indirectly improving mental, physical, and social health.
Supporting urban environments more functional and more economically productive.
Further to this, one other important area is Fear of Crime. Which designing environments in a specific way can directly reduce.
This is really interesting, thank you Darren! I mentioned it briefly in the context of lighting and cameras but this is really promising. Is there a set of sources you would recommend reading more in?
My apologies for missing this! Its worth noting that lighting alone doesn’t make a space safer (in feeling or reality), it is a mixture of factors with other people (bystanders or allies) being around. My lighting designer colleagues did some interesting work on this here with Plan International and Monash University .
The CPTED page on wiki gives a good starter but if you want to read more, you can have a look at this academic paper.
One solution area worth adding to this potentially is Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) (I’m biased because its part of my day-job).
CPTED is a theory of discouraging crime through architecture and urban planning. Think consideration for circulation routes, lighting, ‘eyes on the street’, and encouraging positive use of space.
Embedding crime prevention on a project-by-project basis would have a highly scalable impact. In the UK, Aus, and in Europe, some local and city authorities have local urban plans which usually require designs to have a positive impact in reducing crime and increasing community safety through consideration for security.
So I wonder if expanding this through planning policy and connecting it further into social treatments for crime could have a large impact.
While will not treat the direct economic and social causes of crime, it would:
Provide the environment to help stop crime propagating.
Support well-designed cities, indirectly improving mental, physical, and social health.
Supporting urban environments more functional and more economically productive.
Further to this, one other important area is Fear of Crime. Which designing environments in a specific way can directly reduce.
This is really interesting, thank you Darren! I mentioned it briefly in the context of lighting and cameras but this is really promising. Is there a set of sources you would recommend reading more in?
My apologies for missing this! Its worth noting that lighting alone doesn’t make a space safer (in feeling or reality), it is a mixture of factors with other people (bystanders or allies) being around. My lighting designer colleagues did some interesting work on this here with Plan International and Monash University .
The CPTED page on wiki gives a good starter but if you want to read more, you can have a look at this academic paper.