CPTED

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Overview  

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a place-based and multi-disciplinary approach to preventing crime using design and management of the built environment to influence human behavior to deter crime by increasing potential offender’s sense of risk. CPTED reduces victimization, increases the perception of safety and recognizes the important role of community in creating and maintaining safe spaces. 

CPTED provides a framework for assessing both the physical and social environment of places and how they are used to identify activity patterns and conflicting uses, distinguish cultural and historical influences and the types and levels of guardianship present. CPTED recommendations flow from the following CPTED five principles and additional proven, crime prevention practices listed below:  

1. Natural Surveillance: Natural Surveillance is a design concept that promotes the ability to see and be seen. If Natural Surveillance is limited, pedestrians and other users of the space may feel unsafe and anxious and may avoid the area entirely while potential offenders may feel more comfortable. Ideally, public spaces afford reliable opportunities for natural surveillance to help us know if an area is safe to enter including public facilities, parks and transit stations, including sensitive areas like restroom access points. Private establishments open to the public should also afford reliable opportunities for natural surveillance at pathways to entrances and parking areas. The support of adequate lighting is critical for night or in environments where natural light is unavailable.
    
2. Access Control: This concept decreases the opportunity for crime to occur by denying access to crime targets and by creating a perception of risk.  Natural Access Control is gained by designing streets, sidewalks, building entrances, and neighborhood gateways to clearly indicate public routes. Access to private areas is discouraged using structural elements.
   
   
3. Image and Maintenance: Care and maintenance serves as an expression of ownership and supports the use of a space for its intended purpose. Deteriorated structures, accumulated litter, graffiti, and abandoned property indicate less control by place managers and signals tolerance of disorder. Well-maintained, clean places promote a positive image, inviting positive uses and discouraging negative use.
   
   
4. Community Activation: Where the first four CPTED strategies focus on the design of or modifications to the physical environment to reduce opportunities for crime and increase a sense of safety, Community Activation recognizes that the involvement and support of the people who use and have connections to the place is essential to creating and maintaining safe spaces.
   

Complimentary crime prevention approaches recommended in conjunction with CPTED approaches include:   

• Lighting: Lighting is the number one deterrent for crime during nighttime hours. Lighting helps an individual observe their surroundings and respond to a potential threat. While higher illuminance or greater luminance is often associated with safety, poorly directed light can reduce visibility and thereby reduce safety and security.
  

• Vegetation Maintenance and Landscaping:  Vegetation maintenance is key for natural surveillance.  Ground cover should be no higher than two feet and tree canopies should be no lower than six feet.  This is to allow for clear lines of sight at pedestrian scale.  Further, if mechanical surveillance systems (cameras) are used, a vegetation maintenance plan will ensure that camera views are not obstructed when the vegetation is in full foliage.  Landscaping supports the core CPTED principles of Natural Access Control and Territorial Reinforcement.
  

• Guardianship: Territorial Definition and other CPTED principles are supported by a concept called Guardianship. Informal guardians – people using the space or facility as intended – help establish and reinforce positive norms, attracting others to the space, with the potential to actively intervene to keep the place safe. This is considered positive guardianship. Guardians can also be negative. People engaged in illegal or intimidating behaviors also exert influence, attracting more unwanted activity and deterring others from using the space for its intended purpose. For locations where the informal guardians can’t establish or maintain positive norms, the presence of formal guardians – uniformed police, park rangers or security officers – is needed to reinforce positive uses and intervene when inappropriate or unsafe activity occurs. Positive Guardianship can be increased through use of strategically crafted and located Activity Generators, planned with input from the local community as part of Community Activation.
  

• Wayfinding: Wayfinding supports moving pedestrians and vehicles to and from buildings and the property using readily identifiable roadway transitions, sidewalks, clearly stated signage, and focal points. Wayfinding supports Natural Access Control and increases users’ awareness of surroundings and the overall safety of pedestrians.
  

• Activity Generators (aka Activation): Activity Generators places activities in strategic locations where natural surveillance is limited or unavailable. When the surrounding land use and conditions support it, Activity Generators, also called Place-Making, attracts users and helps to establish and support positive behaviors and help deter unwanted behaviors. Organized activities, such as concerts in the park, or uses such as food truck parks with benches or tables, dog parks, bike and walking trails, and community gardens encourage activities that increase guardianship (described above) of the built environment.
  

• Target Hardening: Target Hardening is accomplished by features that prohibit entry or access: window locks, dead bolts for doors and interior door hinges. A note of caution: Excessive target hardening may create a “fortressing" effect and could result in a business, home or park appearing as an unsafe or unwelcoming place.
  

• Organized and mechanical security measures: CPTED focuses on design elements and natural modification of the built environment to accomplish its goals. Natural CPTED elements can be complemented and strengthened using Organized Strategies, which utilize the human element, sometimes called ‘formal guardians’, such as security guards, receptionists, and door greeters. Mechanical Strategies can also be built in to further harden a target. Deadbolt locks, astragal plates, surveillance cameras, and alarm systems all contribute to the Mechanical Strategy of crime prevention.
  

To request a free security assessment, based on CPTED principles, please contact the Crime Prevention Coordinator for your area.