australian cpted consultants
Safer Environmental Design
Strengthening the connection between great places and safe communities
Creating safe, engaging, exciting and enticing spaces that are sustainable is a major opportunity for Councils to create spaces that ‘speak’ to their community and encourage them to enter and participate.
CPTED is: The design, planning and structure of physical spaces and infrastructure to reduce potential offenders from identifying opportunities to commit crime. By reducing the level of crime, or the fear that a crime may be committed within a physical space, space user confidence is increased.
CPTED and environmental design can have a central role in:
• Addressing stakeholder concerns regarding behaviours of current and anticipated users
• Aligning Council and local community outcomes for connected and resilient communities
• Connecting different Council portfolio areas and teams to work collegiately to address safety issues
• Understanding long term activation challenges for new spaces, and the potential threats that exist for not managing the change process
Our projects in Safer Environmental Design reflect this breadth and the challenges of responding to changing needs and expectations:
sportIng facilities ›
parks & reserves ›
Community Infrastructure: Redevelopment, remediation & major new projects ›
There are two criminological theories that underpin CPTED:
Routine Activity Theory
This theory states that individuals make rational choices in their lives; some of these include engaging in criminal behaviour. It works on the assumption that before committing any act, an individual weighs up the risks of engaging in such behaviour. Where the risks are deemed to be low, an individual may be more
likely to commit a crime – see theory 2 for how offender assess the risk/benefit options.
Rational Choice Theory
This theory states that for a crime to occur, three elements must be present:
A motivated offender
A suitable victim isolated, vulnerable or unaware
The absence of a capable guardian (a person or process [CCTV] that has authority or may take action if a victim requires assistance)
Put these two together, and you can have a person interested in illegal or anti social behaviour (the offender), a person or persons who are vulnerable or unaware (the victim/s) and few people, systems or formal or informal support available in the same place at the same time (capable guardian).
Most of us can immediately sense when there is a heightened risk to ourselves or our family and we will avoid these places. CPTED supports other quality design and designation practitioners to identify weaknesses and find solutions that send clear messages that the space has been designed with personal safety as a central feature.