Planning 2011-11-10 Safety Article

Browse Search

was substantially less likely to be bur- glarized than its lower- density, single family counterparts .6 Making communities safer through planning and community design poses many challenges and more than a few dilemmas. In its "Sustainable City Progress Report," the City of Santa Mon- ica, California describes one such dilem- ma. The city has implemented traffic calming measures to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety, addressing the increase in the number of reported accidents involving motor vehicles and pedestri- ans. However, fire trucks have difficulty navigating the speed bumps and traffic circles, and emer- gency response times have worsened. Planners can play a vital role in mediat- ing these discussions and helping the community balance conflicting needs. Can more and brigh- ter lighting improve safety without chang- ing the character of How do we make our comrftunities'safeolaces for.kids to w'up ih? the neighborhood? Can landscaping be lush, or will this just create more places for intruders and attackers to hide? Do high- density and mixed -use development, sidewalks, and bike lanes fit with the character of rural areas? Does turning drivers into cyclists and pedestrians ever increase risk? Informed, creative community design can help address these challenging questions. Professional and citizen planners, as key designers of our communities, are critical to this process. By focusing on the real dangers, planners and other public officials can apply design solu- tions that make our communities look, feel, and be safer. Evan Lowenstein runs Green Village Consult- ing, a Rochester, New York firm dedicated to sustainable development; <wwwgreenvillage.us 5 Marcus Felson and Richard B. Peiser, Reducing rime through Real Estate Development and Manage nent (Urban Land Institute, 1997). 0 Cul -de -Sacs William Lucy and colleague David Phillips explain in their book Tbmorrow' Cities, Tbmorrow's Suburbs that cul -de -sac streets may be more dan- gerous to drivers and pedestrians than many planners and residents think. Com- mon belief is that cul-de-sacs are safer for children' because they prevent through traffic and slow traffic down. But Lucy and Phillips point out that .cul -de -sacs' superi- or safety,,; while touted by real estate agents and accepted as fact by tens of millions of Americans, is not backed up eriipirically in plannmg and transportation research;: Understanding CPTED by Timothy Crowe CPTED is based on the theory that the proper design and effective use of the built environment can lead to a reduction in the fear and incidence of crime and an improvement in the quality of life. CPTED concepts can be applied to an individual building as well as to an entire neighbor- hood. Using design to foster security has its origins in the early history of the develop- ment of communities. Early Sumerian codes (4,000 BC.) identified the impor- tance of respect for property rights, while the Codes of Hammurabi (2,000 BC.) introduced the responsibilities of builders to their clients. Eighth century Chinese practitioners of Feng Shui promoted the design of harmony in space from the size of the smallest rooms to the planning of cities. Native American cliff dwellers at the same time were developing hierarchies of family and community identity and pro- tection through the design of living space building impregnable living areas on the face of cliffs accessible only by ladders. CPTED is based on three overlapping strategies: natural access control; natural surveillance; and territorial reinforcement. Access control is a design concept directed at decreasing crime opportunity._ Surveillance is directed.at keeping intrud- ers under observation. Traditionally, access control land surveillance have emphasized mechanical or organized crime prevention techniques. More. recent approaches to .the: physical of environments; have shifted the emphasis to natural crime pre vention techniques.. This shift in emphasis has led to the; concept of territoriality, which suggests' that physical design can create or expand; a sphere of influence so that users develop a sense of proprietorship a sense of'teriti: torial influence and potential offenders perceive this territorial influence. Provide clear border definition of con- trolled space. Boundaries may be identified physically or symbolically, and can include. fences, shrubbery, or signs. The underlying principal is that a "reasonable individual' must be able to recognize the transition from public to private space. Provide clearly marked transitional zones. It is important to provide clearly marked transitional zones so that users know when they are moving from public to semi public to private space. Place safe activities in unsafe locations. Safe activities serve as magnets for norrhal users. Within reason, this strategy may be used to overcome problems on school campuses, parks, offices, or institutional settings. Redesign or revamp space to increase the perception of natural surveillance. The per- ception of surveillance is more powerful than its reality. Hidden cameras do little to make normal users feel safer. Likewise, abnormal users do not feel at greater risk when they are oblivious to surveillance potentials. Windows, clear lines -of- sight, and other natural techniques are often as effective as the use of mechanical or organized (e.g., guards) methods. Excerpted from Timothy Crowe, "Understanding CPTED," in PCJ #16. 22 PLANNING COMMISSIONERS JOURNAL NUMBER 64 FALL 2006