ABSTRACT
Many of the more rigorous empirical studies of defensible space, CPTED or situational crime prevention interventions have been done outside the United States, principally in Britain.7 However, some documented project interventions in the United States and Canada have, to varying degrees, risen to that level, providing evidence to support CPTED or defensible space applications – whether in legislation, policy or planning or development practice – across national and in some cases, international boundaries. The following are synopses of some project examples which influence crime prevention applications in urban planning and design in the United States and Canada. As we have noted, strategies suggested by the four basic place-based crime prevention theories are interwoven in real world applications. They may be initiated in response to a perceived problem and thus be primarily ‘reactive’ in nature, or they may have been promulgated as part of a planned or ‘proactive’ strategy which is likely broader in nature than a purely reactive response.
