Can you imagine crime prevention through the designing of residential buildings, educational institutes, hospitals, commercial complexes and other public spaces? There is a general consensus that if the environment is planned, designed and managed appropriately, certain types of crimes can be reduced. The environment can play a significant role in influencing perceptions of safety and security. Certain environments can impart a feeling of safety, while others can induce fear, even in areas where levels of crime are not high. In this regard, planning and design measures can be utilised very successfully to enhance feelings of safety in areas where people feel vulnerable. CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) aims to reduce the causes of, and opportunities for, criminal events and address the fear of crime by applying sound planning, design and management principles to the built environment.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a concept which has developed over the past five decades through a range of fields. It is based on the premise that modifications to the built and natural environment can reduce both crime and fear, and improve the overall quality of life. In the developed world, crime prevention is the shared responsibility between law enforcement agencies, local authorities and the wider public. Unfortunately, in Pakistan due to lack of confidence in Police, generally citizens are hesitant to cooperate with police.
There is a general consensus that if the environment is planned, designed and managed appropriately, certain types of crimes can be reduced. The environment can play a significant role in influencing perceptions of safety and security. Certain environments can impart a feeling of safety, while others can induce fear, even in areas where levels of crime are not high
A variety of studies have established that the built environment does influence criminal behaviour where housing areas that are not guarded or patrolled are more prone to become targets for acts of crime. In structuring such control, communication among different areas including physical, social, environmental, individual, and community form the basis for environmental design and management as one of the strategies to prevent crime. This form of crime prevention focuses on all efforts aiming at reducing crime rates, fear of crime and mitigation of crime.
CPTED may be expressed as physical environmental designs that may reduce opportunity for criminal acts and thus reduce fear of crime through natural, mechanical and procedural means. This is based on physical environmental characteristics that create a psychological influence on the behaviour of a criminal. This approach makes positive changes to the environment to deter crime and criminals, such as improving illumination, removal of cover for criminals and cleanliness/maintenance of area would assist in making the business or residential sites less attractive to external criminals.
CPTED strategies rely upon the ability to influence offender’s decisions that preceded criminal activities. In fact altering the physical design of the buildings and complexes in order to deter criminal activity is the main objective of CPTED. Several developed countries are implementing this multidisciplinary approach to deter criminal behaviour through environmental design. The notion that the physical environment can either increase or reduce the opportunities for crime is not new. The CPTED principles are to incorporate natural surveillance, situational prevention, natural access control and territorial reinforcement techniques to make the buildings safe and avert criminal activities. The CPTED is a US-based concept and is referred to as ‘SBD’ in UK. In Pakistan, there is a need for similar research so that crime can be combated.
The author is an Independent Security Consultant and the CEO of Sensei Corporate Solutions (Pvt) Ltd. He also worked in the Security Department and was responsible for delivering new and reviewed Security Policies and protocols for various UK based organisations
Published in Daily Times, December 18th2018.