Environmental design which makes sense

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (Second Edition)
Timothy D Crowe
Butterworth-Heinemann
£35.00
Date published: 2000
Content: 333 pages
Details from : Tel. +44(0)1865 888180
Fax. +44(0)1865 314290

My first experience of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) occurred while I was working at an adult prison. Someone suggested painting the cells of prisoners a calming shade of pink! As it transpired, the painting never took place but my scepticism remained. That is until I took the time to read this new book. Today, I'd describe myself as a convert to the concept of CPTED.

The premise of the book, and indeed CPTED, is that there is a link between the environment and human behaviour. By understanding this link, it is suggested, we can design or change the environment to encourage or discourage certain types of behaviour. The book does not suggest that CPTED should be used as an exclusive means to combat criminality, but that CPTED measures can successfully contribute towards security objectives. Indeed, the advice is that traditional security methods can be made much, much more effective when combined with CPTED.

The first edition of this book was published in 1991 and this new edition is an update which includes plenty of fresh material. The text is easy to understand and contains many examples of how to put CPTED into practice.

I recommend this book on the basis that you do not have to be an architectural design or space management consultant to make use of CPTED. As the author states: "The CPTED planner merely tries to maximise the use of natural strategies before using the more costly, organised and mechanical ones."

Security guards and CCTV are used as examples of organised and mechanical strategies. The strategies include:

• Natural access control. Example: placing shop changing rooms near to a point-of-sale where people think they are under scrutiny.

• Natural surveillance. Example: designing a path that weaves, encouraging users to look about rather than to have a "bee line" mentality.

• Territorial reinforcement. Example: fences, shrubbery and signs that help to define ownership. It makes normal users feel safer and non-legitimate users feel less safe.

What makes this book so compelling is that the author has two outstanding qualities. First, he is clearly a very experienced criminologist who has an excellent grasp of human behaviour. Second, he has the ability to put across even complex theories in a way that you and me can understand and implement.