Safety and Security
Housing, when designed properly, can dramatically enhance a resident’s perception of safety. Proper architectural design, which encourages a sense of ownership, combined with appropriate building management helps to create an atmosphere for positive social interactions, which aids in the prevention of crime. During the design phase, site selection, building placement and orientation become crucial factors in determining a building’s ability to project security, therefore these decisions must be made carefully. Special attention should be paid to zoning ordinance and building codes, in order to create spaces that enhance a sense of community and create high-levels of visibility for residents.
According to the City Design Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago,
“…Such strategies include: orienting building entries and first and second story windows toward the street and other frequently used outdoor spaces or common building areas; avoiding dead-ends and isolated spaces; designing short and visible pathways; and providing adequate lighting. Outdoor spaces that are perceived as a "no-man's land" or offer blind corners and hiding places should be avoided in favor of places that are clearly designed for frequent use by many households or for individual household use.”
Other strategies to improve safety and security include, ensuring that adequate visibility is provided to both residents and those passing by, physically reinforcing the structure by having doors in vulnerable locations swing outward, reducing the size of letter-box openings, placing deadbolts lower on door frames, and placing prickly shrubs outside of windows. The placement of security enhancing features does not even need to be dramatic, in fact some critics argue that a more subtle approach is in fact more appropriate.
“Subtle architecture that gently reinforces law-abiding norms and prevents a degree of intrusion is to be preferred to explicit and awkward physical barricades that reflect the feeling that a community is under siege. Cheap wire fences do not express a belief in the power of law or norms; rather, they reflect the opposite. The same can be said for ugly iron bars on windows, which express the terror of crime as powerfully as does any sign or published crime statistic.”
Good design is not an arguement for physical determinism, in which the environment determines a person’s outward behavior and actions, but rather it stands apart. When good design is part of a comprehensive solution it can help to enhance both the real and perceived security of a development.
Resources
Review: Katyal, N. K. “Architecture as Crime Control”, Yale Law Journal, March 2002, Vol 111, Issue 5.
Newman, Oscar. Creating Defensible Space. U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). 1996.
