SAFEGROWTH®

SAFEGROWTH® BLOG

Regular contributors:
Gregory Saville, Tarah Hodgkinson, Mateja Mihinjac
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • SAFEGROWTH NETWORK
    • UNITED STATES
    • CANADA
    • AUSTRALASIA
    • EUROPE
    • LATIN AMERICA
  • BOOK
  • BLOG
  • TOOLKIT (PASSWORD ACCESS)
    • RISK ASSESSMENT FOR NEIGHBORHOODS >
      • Notes for SafeGrowth teams >
        • HELSINGBORG, SWEDEN - COMPLETED
      • RA Categories-Neighborhoods
      • Report guidance >
        • Report structure
        • Sample reports
      • Readings for download
      • Glossary
    • RISK ASSESSMENT FOR REGULATORS >
      • RA Categories-Regulators

12/12/2020

ABOLISH CPTED?

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
Is CPTED racist? Does it exclude minorities?

by Gregory Saville

As our COVID ravaged cities impose social isolation, working-from-home, and cabin fever, those who live in high-density apartments and housing developments must be confident they are safe from crime and violence. And, more than ever before, residents must feel their home is a sanctuary. Crime prevention through environmental design - CPTED - is an ideal answer for these difficult times, especially 2nd Generation CPTED and SafeGrowth.

Next Thursday, Dec 17, I and some colleagues are running a free educational webinar for property managers, realtors, and housing groups seeking residential safety. The “Virtual Property Management and Safety Summit” is sponsored by real estate safety expert, Tracey “the safety lady” Hawkins.

THE ANTI-CPTED MEME

All this stands in stark contrast to recent calls for the abolition of CPTED from municipal codes and city planning due to the perception that CPTED can exclude minorities from public life. Consider the Vancouver City Planning Commission website or articles by Bryan Lee Jr in Bloomberg City Lab website.
Picture
Keeping residents safe at home - What are the alternatives?

​According to Lee: 

“While CPTED principles are said to help discourage crime by orienting building windows and entrances to aid in providing “eyes on the street” that monitor activity, in practice this strategy can end up serving the same suppressive purpose as stop-and-frisk policing — to assure that anyone considered suspicious is made to feel uncomfortable.”

The solution, say these latter-day gurus who would protect us from the current Racial Reckoning, is to abolish CPTED, a crime prevention strategy that has brought safety and security to millions of citizens all over the world – as you will discover by reading some of the hundreds of scientific publications regarding CPTED. 

ABOLITION OR ACCREDITATION?

In my view, CPTED is not the problem. For example, while aspirin has been an effective pain remedy for over a thousand years, improper use can result in overdose and stomach problems. The solution is not to abolish aspirin. Same with CPTED. It is vulnerable to improper use by poorly trained practitioners. No doubt some practitioners indiscriminately lock and fence properties without regard to alternative options. CPTED can produce racial exclusion if placed into the wrong, untrained hands. But the solution isn’t abolition. It’s proper training and certification through legitimate accredited courses – the very thing the ICA has offered for years.
In his 1972 landmark book “Defensible Space”, architect Oscar Newman wrote 

"The question to be asked is how does one initially achieve thoughtful building groupings rather than having to resort to barbed-wire fences and locks after the fact?"

One answer appeared on the International CPTED Association’s “Special ICA Webinar: Exclusion versus Inclusion – In CPTED Everyone Has a role”.

On Thursday, Dec. 17, we will provide another during our Safety Summit. 

Join us.
Picture
Thursday, Dec 17 - free summit on property safety

Share

0 Comments
Details

    AUTHORS

    Gregory Saville
    Tarah Hodgkinson
    Mateja Mihinjac


    CATEGORIES

    All
    Art
    Biophilia
    Black Lives Matter
    Bladerunner
    CCTV
    Change Agent
    Civility
    Community Building
    Community Empowerment
    Community Engagement
    Community Safety
    Connectivity
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    CPTED
    Creativity
    Crime Opportunity
    Criminology
    Culture
    Defensible Space
    Design Out Crime
    Diversity
    Downtown
    Emotional Intelligence
    Ethics
    Evidence-based
    Eyes On The Street
    Fear Of Crime
    Global Warming
    Governance
    Graffiti
    Green Spaces
    HACE
    Health
    Homelessness
    Housing
    Human Scale Design
    ICA
    Immigration
    Inclusiveness
    Latin America
    Law
    Lighting
    LISC
    Livability
    Livability Academy
    Lovability
    Motivation
    Neighborhood
    Neighborhood Governance
    Neighborhood Hubs
    Neighborhood Transformation
    Partnerships
    PBL
    Placemaking
    Policing
    Politics
    Problem-based Learning
    Professionalization
    Public Health
    Quality Of Life
    Rural Crime
    SafeGrowth
    Safety Audits
    San Romanoway
    Science
    Security
    Sitability
    Smart City
    Smart Growth
    Social Cohesion
    Social Distancing
    Social Ecology
    Social Justice
    Social Unrest
    Space Activation
    Street Walkability
    Suburbs
    Successful Places
    Surveillance
    Sustainability
    Target Hardening
    Technology
    Theory
    Third Generation CPTED
    Third Places
    Urbanism
    Violence
    Youth


    ARCHIVES

    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009



Picture
DENVER, CO 80003
SAFEGROWTH.OFFICE@GMAIL.COM

SAFEGROWTH® 2007-2021  |  PRODUCT OF ALTERNATION LLC
SafeGrowth.org  ·  AlterNation.ca
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • SAFEGROWTH NETWORK
    • UNITED STATES
    • CANADA
    • AUSTRALASIA
    • EUROPE
    • LATIN AMERICA
  • BOOK
  • BLOG
  • TOOLKIT (PASSWORD ACCESS)
    • RISK ASSESSMENT FOR NEIGHBORHOODS >
      • Notes for SafeGrowth teams >
        • HELSINGBORG, SWEDEN - COMPLETED
      • RA Categories-Neighborhoods
      • Report guidance >
        • Report structure
        • Sample reports
      • Readings for download
      • Glossary
    • RISK ASSESSMENT FOR REGULATORS >
      • RA Categories-Regulators