ABSTRACT
Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) is an important component of a comprehensive approach to crime prevention. This chapter reviews the evidence on the ability of CPTED strategies to reduce crime and fear of crime, and also reviews the best practices concerning CPTED. There is a growing body of evidence that CPTED can reduce crime and fear of crime. CPTED entails understanding the relationship between physical design and levels of criminal activity and then manipulating design to reduce the incidence of crime. CPTED standards should be written into regulations and be part of the design process from the beginning. It is far more difficult to incorporate CPTED planning at a later stage of the design process when many key decisions have already been made. The chapter suggests that Ottawa can take a global leadership role by incorporating CPTED as a core part of a broad and comprehensive crime prevention strategy.
