ABSTRACT
The following are five essential factors in crime prevention through environmental design 1 :
Ensure that physical space is designed in the context of the needs of bona fide users of the space. The purpose is to properly match a space's physical design with its intended use. This can best be accomplished by matching the physical design of the space with the physical, social, and psychological needs of the space's bona fide users.
When designing and organizing space, its effective and productive use will create safe and critical intensity zones so that “abnormal users” will feel at greater risk from surveillance and intervention, and “normal users” will experience a reduced risk.
Design space to create natural surveillance and natural access control with windows, having a clear line of sight, and to promote space definition. This minimizes the perception of constraints on the enjoyments and use of the property, which is often found with traditional target hardening.
Strategically allocate safe activities within what would be considered unsafe or vulnerable areas, limited natural considered unsafe or vulnerable areas, limited natural surveillance or access control areas, and areas with a lack of territoriality. By identifying these areas, such as in public places and parking lots, this increases the benefits of safety for normal users of the space, and the 93perception of greater risk with a sense of supervision and intervention among abnormal users of the space.
Maps can be of immense benefit in locating natural boundaries, neighborhoods, land use, and pedestrian and traffic movement. Maps can be obtained from city planning departments, zoning boards, local council, and transport engineering council.
