Samenvatting Interaction Society and Space

Interaction, Society & Space – summary




Week 2
Reynald: Translating CPTED into Crime Preventative Action: A Critical Examination
of CPTED as a Tool for Active Guardianship
- CPTED: crime prevention through environmental design
o Modify aspects of physical and social environment that provide opportunities
which enable crime, blocking these opportunities, reducing & preventing crime
o Context of the crime problem (crime, location, timing) etc. must be considered
to generate an effective solution (not generalizable/copy-paste)
o This paper: opportunities for inhabitants to protect their space
- CPTED and natural surveillance
o Formal organized: shop keepers, parking lot attendants, security guards
o Mechanical surveillance: CCTV & lighting
o Informal surveillance: watchfulness of residents
o Natural surveillance: capacity of physical design to provide surveillance
opportunities for residents and their agents
- Observing natural surveillance, territoriality & image in practice
o Measuring sightlines between private and public space
 Any obstructions?
o Observing active surveillance by people
o Positive correlation between surveillance opportunities & crime prevention
o Territoriality: delineate private from public space (physical & symbolic)
 Negative correlation between territoriality & natural surveillance
 Ambiguity
o Conceptual issues

, o Study found: houses with more physical obstacles
(which result in territoriality) > more burglars
o But also: study found that physical barriers  more
concealment  more attractive to rob
o Image/maintenance of the area
 Well maintained  controlled by residents (signal)
 More aesthetic surroundings  more natural surveillance
 Not well maintained  less participation/citizen involvement (less
natural surveillance)
 Influencing access + local land-use  planning/Jacobs
- The context of natural surveillance (neighbourhood contextual factors)
o Inhabitants perception of residential context
 Dependent on crime, income & ethnic composition levels
o Thus: having opportunities to carry out natural surveillance does not
necessarily mean that residents will use them to supervise their surroundings




Jane Jacobs: the Death and Life of American Cities
- Chapter 2: side-walks: safety
o Streets and side-walks= main public spaces in cities
 Safety
 Not caused by attendance of police
 Not caused by spreading people out over the city
 How to keep streets save?
o Demarcation public-private space
o Eyes upon the street: people are ‘policing’
o Sidewalks must be used continuously
 How to keep people on the street?
o Stores, bars, restaurants: enterprises
 Enterprises want a clean/safe sidewalk
 People visit during various times a day
 People are an attraction for people
 How to live in unsafe cities?
o Let danger hold sway
o Take refuge in the car
o Turf
o Protect your part of the city
 In low-income neighbourhoods: gangs/gang wars
 Middle/high income: fencing of the
neighbourhood (no trespassing allowed!)
 Diversity= means to an end
- Chapter 7: generators of diversity
o Critique: current planning is use-by-use planning

, o Cities are drivers of diversity
 Small manufacturers  dependent on a lot of other entrepreneurs 
proximity pays of
 Effective economic pools of use
 Opportunities for trade, cultural facilities & entertainment  niche
market  concentration of people
o Drivers of diversity:
 >1 primary function
 Short blocks
 Mingle buildings
 Sufficiently dense concentration of people
- Chapter 8: need for mixed primary uses
o Who visits enterprises?
 Workers, residents, people who want a change of scenery
o How can many businesses survive?  spread of people throughout the day
(constant traffic)
o 2 kinds of diversity:
 Primary use= bringing people to a specific place because they are
anchorages
 Secondary diversity= enterprises that grow in response of primary use
o Downtowns  CBD’s  too little people past working hours
o Cultural/civic centres  concentrate/isolate uses
o Planning role= permit and encourage mixture of uses
 But, how to infuse work into residential grey areas?
- Chapter 9: the need for small blocks
o More blocks  more feasible spots for commerce
 Why?
 People can pool their support in more than 1 (mega long block)
stream, thus a better distribution of services, economic
opportunity and public life
o Commerce depends on a large cross-section of passing
public (large mixture of users)
 More diversity in streets (if, not thwarted by
repressive zoning or regimented building)
 Orthodox planning= streets are wasteful
- Chapter 10: the need for aged buildings
o Only businesses that can pay to be housed in new construction; limited; chains
(big brands  highly standardized)
o New construction needs old construction; enterprises housed in the old
(small/interesting); keep the environment lively, exiting, convenient, so that
people are willing to shop there
o Critiqued: monopoly shopping: new (suburban) development where only 1
store restaurant is introduced to avoid competition
- Chapter 11: the need for concentration
o Decentralization: low population density
 Thus: available amenities= those required by the majority