help!!

['DI'ya]

hi,
Am planning to d a research(read dissertation) on how crime prevention can be bought about by the way a structur eis designed.any ideas???

[udstudio-jack]

several possibilities:
1,the enclosure is strong enough to prevent breaking in.
2,the gate can be guarded.
3,every room with camera, surveyed by controlling center.
4,multiple access to every room, being easy to escape from crime.
5,no corner,no hidden places.
6,light is enough.
...

[RWL]

Growing issue in U.S. is building security, i.e., crime prevention.

Check book sources on www,amazon.com and one from the American Institute of Architects on this topic. There is a lot of information about this topic-- might even just search the topci to see what sources come up.

[BJR]

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[lekizz]

My employer's London office designs prisons, no doubt they will be experts in this

By crime do you mean vandalism or damage to the building itself? Gaols can prevent crime by locking criminals up. Youth Centres can stop crime by keeping young people entertained, occupied and off the streets. It is a matter of debate as to how you best stop crime.

Landscaping is often used to prevent vandalism to buildings. For example, you can plant some beautiful thorny bushes around you nice pristine work of architecture, to stop pesky graffiti artists.

[Architorture]

i did a project in school based around this concept of building security...

i actually used the terms 'active' and 'passive' in describing the different means by which safety is created and maintained...

obviously active forms would be security guards, cameras, metal detectors, controlled access, etc etc...

then passive would be such things as creating spaces that are very public and easily scrutinized by crowds, the siting of the building and site roads to create a proximity large enough to avoid car bombs or site features that would stop a vehicle from crashing into the building like berms or bollards, blast resistant garbage recepticles...

in the end i came to the conclusion that often times the passive safety features were more effective than the active ones... mostly b/c the active features almost always have a very specific and easily discernable function which means someone interested in avoiding them can figure out how...

active features are also just that, active so they can break or malfunction at any given time...passive feature are far less likely to do this.

finally many passive features can carry out their function without being disruptive or oppressive. there is definitely a different feeling in a space that is built to be bullet-proof with cameras everywhere and people in uniforms walking around on catwalks...

all of that aside i would simply look at the evolution of the bank building type... years ago banks were built like fortresses with heavy bases, small window openings grand enterances etc etc... the modern bank on the other hand is very open and easily seen into from the outside... instead of using material as a wall, transparency is being used as a means to passively survail the space... some one is far less likely to rob a bank that can be easily seen into from the outside...

[udstudio-jack]

mark twin once made a speech of which the point is the government can't save money by reducing the constrution of schools, because the money have to be used to build more prisons. that's a new aspect of question i think, to what extend can we affect? hasn't the apartment been exploded down due to it's social problems including crime(so came charls jencks's "the modern achitecture has died",but i recognize it rather a design mistake than the fault of modern architecture, if thing were really what i know), maybe there are active ways that are even more active than lekizz's realm.

[udstudio-jack]

correction:
the term "active" and "passive“ is Architorture's point of view, sorry.

[mx2]

A quick Google search would revveal a long history of this issue, which was actually required reading for us (see Defensible Space). This issue has been mandated by the U.S. Fedreal government.


Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_prevention_through_environmental_design

mx2

[ams7]

hey ...my senior in college did his project on the exact same topic...his approach was very interesting...he used illusion as the main technique ...plus the other active/passive methods as mentioned earlier..

[Richard Haut]

the Wikipedia article is excellent - but it would seem that the notion of the community looking out for itself, and people being prepared to intervene, is the part that has lessened over the last few decades.

if people do not see it as their business to look out for their neighbours, then design inevitably has to look to harsher and harsher solutions creating not defensible, but hostile space.

that hostility may transmit to the criminal or potential criminal, but it becomes irrelevant: the area is no longer functioning as an urban space.

[lekizz]

The trend for inner city living has returned to the UK with a vengeance in the last five years. A welcome change from the previous drift towards out-of-town industrial estates and strict zoning of residential/commercial. Redundant office blocks and offices above shops are being converted like there was no tomorrow. At least city centres are not complete ghost towns after 6pm each night.