A NEW LANGUAGE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
ABP - Action-Based Practice
Integral to the SafeGrowth® philosophy are strategies involving co-planning and co-researching. In SafeGrowth® they are called ABP - methods of practice in which both those within the neighborhood, such as residents, and those with specialized expertise, such as crime prevention practitioners, academics, urban planners and police officers, have an equally important role to play in making safer and more vibrant places.
ABP methods have a long history in social science called action research, participatory action research and appreciative inquiry. ABP methods also have a long history in adult education and teaching pedagogies called action learning and problem-based learning. These social science methods integrate researchers, problem-solvers and community members together in a search for answers to difficult problems. Immediate action on real-life problems drives the learning and planning at every step. In SafeGrowth® this is linked to the philosophy known as the To-For-With-By concept.
Integral to the SafeGrowth® philosophy are strategies involving co-planning and co-researching. In SafeGrowth® they are called ABP - methods of practice in which both those within the neighborhood, such as residents, and those with specialized expertise, such as crime prevention practitioners, academics, urban planners and police officers, have an equally important role to play in making safer and more vibrant places.
ABP methods have a long history in social science called action research, participatory action research and appreciative inquiry. ABP methods also have a long history in adult education and teaching pedagogies called action learning and problem-based learning. These social science methods integrate researchers, problem-solvers and community members together in a search for answers to difficult problems. Immediate action on real-life problems drives the learning and planning at every step. In SafeGrowth® this is linked to the philosophy known as the To-For-With-By concept.
Change Agents
Change agents might be community leaders, social planners, youth and social workers, or community police officers. Those change agents will need training in modern prevention and planning strategies and access to experts with those skills.
Change agents might be community leaders, social planners, youth and social workers, or community police officers. Those change agents will need training in modern prevention and planning strategies and access to experts with those skills.
Community Livability Academy
Another method used to promote SafeGrowth® teams and SafeGrowth® Planning in each neighborhood is the Community Livability Academy. The SafeGrowth® Facilitator(s) are tasked with establishing an evening a week workshop sessions. The public is invited to attend these free sessions. An entire course of sessions can run up to a few months in duration.
Workshop sessions include topics such as the criminal justice system, urban planning and development, how city government functions, personal development skills such as organizing community events, conducting meetings, and solving conflicts. Workshop evenings should be interactive and might include outdoor safety audits, community asset mapping, and attending cultural festivals. Crucially, participants learn about the SafeGrowth® Planning method and how they can participate.
Guest speakers may also volunteer from different departments across the city such as criminal justice officials, urban land use experts, police officers, recreation and professional architects, and others engaged in urban governance and management. Academies last up to two months after which graduates receive a Community Livability Academy certificate of attendance. At the conclusion graduates are solicited to participate in neighborhood SafeGrowth® teams thereby providing a steady pool of candidates to rotate into teams.
Another method used to promote SafeGrowth® teams and SafeGrowth® Planning in each neighborhood is the Community Livability Academy. The SafeGrowth® Facilitator(s) are tasked with establishing an evening a week workshop sessions. The public is invited to attend these free sessions. An entire course of sessions can run up to a few months in duration.
Workshop sessions include topics such as the criminal justice system, urban planning and development, how city government functions, personal development skills such as organizing community events, conducting meetings, and solving conflicts. Workshop evenings should be interactive and might include outdoor safety audits, community asset mapping, and attending cultural festivals. Crucially, participants learn about the SafeGrowth® Planning method and how they can participate.
Guest speakers may also volunteer from different departments across the city such as criminal justice officials, urban land use experts, police officers, recreation and professional architects, and others engaged in urban governance and management. Academies last up to two months after which graduates receive a Community Livability Academy certificate of attendance. At the conclusion graduates are solicited to participate in neighborhood SafeGrowth® teams thereby providing a steady pool of candidates to rotate into teams.
Informed and Activated Local Action
There is an old saying incorporated into SafeGrowth® practice - small is beautiful. That is not to say large scale development and crime prevention is ineffective, but rather it acknowledges that most crime happens at the local level on the street and in the home or business, and that is where solutions will emerge. Therefore SafeGrowth® takes the position that most crime is best tackled within the neighborhood by coherent groups and local change agents. Thus, the future mandate of cities, organizers, and others in positions of influence should eventually become to help create Informed and Activated Local Action by finding, organizing, and supporting those groups/change agents within the neighborhood.
There is an old saying incorporated into SafeGrowth® practice - small is beautiful. That is not to say large scale development and crime prevention is ineffective, but rather it acknowledges that most crime happens at the local level on the street and in the home or business, and that is where solutions will emerge. Therefore SafeGrowth® takes the position that most crime is best tackled within the neighborhood by coherent groups and local change agents. Thus, the future mandate of cities, organizers, and others in positions of influence should eventually become to help create Informed and Activated Local Action by finding, organizing, and supporting those groups/change agents within the neighborhood.
Risk Assessment Matrix
The SafeGrowth® Risk Assessment Matrix provides a consistent and coherent model of neighborhood diagnosis, crime and problem analysis, and quality of life assessment on which to base a SafeGrowth® Plan. That Matrix is an evidenced-based method for teams to collect information, determine the best strategy, and evaluate the success of strategies. Each year SafeGrowth® Plans are updated and team members again use the Matrix to collect data on new projects.
The SafeGrowth® Risk Assessment Matrix provides a consistent and coherent model of neighborhood diagnosis, crime and problem analysis, and quality of life assessment on which to base a SafeGrowth® Plan. That Matrix is an evidenced-based method for teams to collect information, determine the best strategy, and evaluate the success of strategies. Each year SafeGrowth® Plans are updated and team members again use the Matrix to collect data on new projects.
SafeGrowth® Facilitator
Each municipality should provide administrative and, where needed, financial support to SafeGrowth® Teams. Each municipality should employ a person(s) who coordinates those activities. That person is the SafeGrowth® Facilitator(s). In some places that will encompass an assigned manager or planner (or a management committee) who will help form the Teams, provide for regular training and ensure they run smoothly. Those trainings are provided through the Community Livability Academy.
Each municipality should provide administrative and, where needed, financial support to SafeGrowth® Teams. Each municipality should employ a person(s) who coordinates those activities. That person is the SafeGrowth® Facilitator(s). In some places that will encompass an assigned manager or planner (or a management committee) who will help form the Teams, provide for regular training and ensure they run smoothly. Those trainings are provided through the Community Livability Academy.
SafeGrowth® Plan
Each neighborhood creates its own SafeGrowth® Plan on an annual, or semi-annual basis. The Plan will have measurable objectives, visions, and strategies. Strategies may be enacted locally or in conjunction with others.
SafeGrowth Teams and Facilitators will pay special attention to the 2nd Generation CPTED concepts of cohesion, connectivity and capacity to ensure neighborhood visions encourage inclusive environments, plenty of semi-public space, and urban places that are walkable, friendly, and safe.
Because neighborhoods are like ecosystems that constantly change, plans should be updated yearly. New problems will arise and visions will evolve. SafeGrowth® Plans need to match this natural metabolism by rotating new members onto teams. Those members will come from the Community Livability Academy.
Strategies that appear within SafeGrowth® Plans may include all the traditional approaches such as crime prevention through environmental design, social prevention, hotspot policing, restorative justice methods, education programs, and youth programs. However in this case plans are created through the positive vision for development that neighborhood identifies for their future, the Team diagnosis of local problems obstructing that vision, and specific outcomes the Team wants to achieve. That analysis is based on the Risk Assessment Matrix.
Each neighborhood creates its own SafeGrowth® Plan on an annual, or semi-annual basis. The Plan will have measurable objectives, visions, and strategies. Strategies may be enacted locally or in conjunction with others.
SafeGrowth Teams and Facilitators will pay special attention to the 2nd Generation CPTED concepts of cohesion, connectivity and capacity to ensure neighborhood visions encourage inclusive environments, plenty of semi-public space, and urban places that are walkable, friendly, and safe.
Because neighborhoods are like ecosystems that constantly change, plans should be updated yearly. New problems will arise and visions will evolve. SafeGrowth® Plans need to match this natural metabolism by rotating new members onto teams. Those members will come from the Community Livability Academy.
Strategies that appear within SafeGrowth® Plans may include all the traditional approaches such as crime prevention through environmental design, social prevention, hotspot policing, restorative justice methods, education programs, and youth programs. However in this case plans are created through the positive vision for development that neighborhood identifies for their future, the Team diagnosis of local problems obstructing that vision, and specific outcomes the Team wants to achieve. That analysis is based on the Risk Assessment Matrix.
SafeGrowth® Teams
The small action group that is organized in each neighborhood is called a SafeGrowth® Team. It assembles the plan, solicits a development vision from the neighborhood, and then works on problems within the neighborhood to help realize that vision. Within the plan the team identifies a set of specific problems that will be addressed each year. When one set is resolved, they move on to the next in following years. The team members comprise residents and representatives from Community Livability Academies who rotate onto the team at regular intervals. Team members also comprise professionals such as planners, urban design experts, community organizers and community police officers.
The small action group that is organized in each neighborhood is called a SafeGrowth® Team. It assembles the plan, solicits a development vision from the neighborhood, and then works on problems within the neighborhood to help realize that vision. Within the plan the team identifies a set of specific problems that will be addressed each year. When one set is resolved, they move on to the next in following years. The team members comprise residents and representatives from Community Livability Academies who rotate onto the team at regular intervals. Team members also comprise professionals such as planners, urban design experts, community organizers and community police officers.
Social Ecology
There is an extensive theory behind the principles of SafeGrowth and that theory falls into four categories. One of those categories is called social ecology. The social ecology movement began at the University of Chicago in the 1920s at the same time the science of ecology emerged, at the beginning of the 20th Century. Social ecology included a study of neighborhoods where juvenile delinquency flourished and it resulted in prevention programs. Many of those programs were defunded and, some argue, contributed to the crime problems Chicago experiences today.
Social ecology is the idea that neighborhoods function as ecosystems similar to natural ecosystems. Natural ecosystems have a life of their own, interconnected parts, and require certain conditions to thrive. Similarly, neighborhoods have their own traditions and cultures and interconnected land uses and functions like shops, apartments, parks and cultural events (festivals). Neighborhoods need certain conditions to thrive and remain safe. If abandoned homes or drug dealers appear and begin to grow in number, they create conditions ripe for crime and disorder. To remain functional and safe, SafeGrowth planners carefully monitor and prevent the appearance and expansion of such factors that destabilize a neighborhood’s social ecology.
There is an extensive theory behind the principles of SafeGrowth and that theory falls into four categories. One of those categories is called social ecology. The social ecology movement began at the University of Chicago in the 1920s at the same time the science of ecology emerged, at the beginning of the 20th Century. Social ecology included a study of neighborhoods where juvenile delinquency flourished and it resulted in prevention programs. Many of those programs were defunded and, some argue, contributed to the crime problems Chicago experiences today.
Social ecology is the idea that neighborhoods function as ecosystems similar to natural ecosystems. Natural ecosystems have a life of their own, interconnected parts, and require certain conditions to thrive. Similarly, neighborhoods have their own traditions and cultures and interconnected land uses and functions like shops, apartments, parks and cultural events (festivals). Neighborhoods need certain conditions to thrive and remain safe. If abandoned homes or drug dealers appear and begin to grow in number, they create conditions ripe for crime and disorder. To remain functional and safe, SafeGrowth planners carefully monitor and prevent the appearance and expansion of such factors that destabilize a neighborhood’s social ecology.
TO-FOR-WITH-BY Philosophy
SafeGrowth® is an integrated planning method for planning safe neighborhoods based on To-For-With-By. It proceeds by delivering strategies in partnership With and independently By residents, not To or For them.
SafeGrowth® is an integrated planning method for planning safe neighborhoods based on To-For-With-By. It proceeds by delivering strategies in partnership With and independently By residents, not To or For them.
