ASSIGNMENT FOUR.

Assignment 4

Promoting Design against crime.

Research has shown that design can influence the occurrence of crime, -positively and negatively. In order to reduce the vulnerability of people and property, design against crime needs to be taken seriously.

Reducing crime also reduces fear of crime, and therefore helps to improve quality of life.

Designing security into a project need not increase costs, and can be more economical in the long term. However, it does require some thought and imagination. The best solutions often result from a co-ordinated approach; bringing together the ideas and experience of the developer, the designer, the local authority, the police and the community.

Activity 4A:

-Promoting Design against Crime

Simon Learmount

This paper reports the findings of research that aims to cast light on the current state of crime-resistant design in the U.K. It looks at how crime resistance is currently incorporated into design education and practise, and what might be done to raise awareness of the issue amongst design, educators and designers themselves.

The paper also looks at a survey of consumer attitudes towards crime-resistant design. These are thought to be of key importance in encouraging businesses to design against crime.

The main objective within the paper is to discuss the effect that logical design can have in reducing crime. There are already existing security features, such as improved locks, alarms, immobilizers and tracking systems which have, in turn, significantly reduced the degree of car crime in the U.K over the past 10 years. The introduction of crime prevention in modern cars has lead to older cars being at a significantly greater risk of theft.

What I found to be the most important information in this paper was how design against crime has been introduced to education and designers.

It was reported that only 41% of design educators claimed that crime was not at all relevant to their design discipline. Design educators argued that environmental, disability, and demographic issues were perceived to be of greater relevance than crime. However, 71% of architectural design educators claimed that crime was an important issue within their discipline. This research obviously highlights that design against crime is significant within the architectural criteria.

These methods of research are an example of primary information as questionnaires were constructed and sent off to course leaders of the principal design courses listed in the 1999 entry prospectuses of U.K. Higher education institutions.

Following this information, it was discovered that design educators agreed that having been made aware of design against crime, crime- resistant design was something that that could be usefully addressed within current and future design courses. Respondents consequently requested a combination of literature and information relevant to crime-resistant design.

The key aspect understood in this paper is how clueless the many design schools across the country are when it comes to design against crime. Some schools would admit that the majority of their students see design against crime as a ''male'' design domain. With these sort of attitudes, it is not surprising that there is little to no interest amongst students regarding the subject.

The paper touches on ways to raise awareness of the importance of design against crime. The author suggests that we make use of existing design bodies such as the Design Council, the Design Business Association, British Design and Art Direction, the Chartered Society of Designers and the Royal Society of Arts. After all, it is these key organisations that have significant influence within the industry. Members of these organisations will admit that the design profession currently regards crime prevention in a negative way.

The main point within the paper was that those in charge of design courses are showing enthusiasm for promoting design within crime. With some effort, the government could make use of existing channels to increase the enthusiasm for the idea that with attention to detail and quality, design within the U.K. could also excel in its capacity and willingness to design against crime.

-Making Cities Work

George Hazel and Roger Parry

The main purpose of this particular book is to enable communities to be more successful. It showcases not just theories, but ideas in action worldwide. These ideas are initiatives that enhance the quality of urban life.

Cities encounter the human race at both it's very best, and it's very worst. Cities can be inspirational, technological and artistic at the best of times, however they will have aspects of poverty, disease and crime. These issues cannot be ignored. We, as designers, must find ways to make cities better places, for everyone.

This book explores ideas from around the world that have enabled cities to work more successfully and have therefore enhanced the quality of life for the city dwellers. One of the main methods of increasing quality of life for those who live in a city, is to logically design against crime. Many of the proposed ideas are linked to more effective transport systems, as well as redesigning the urban environment in a way to make it more sympathetic to the needs of people and their safety within a city.

The information within the book explores and investigates successful design, within particular cities. It also looks at how designers achieve a balance on how we design and operate cities to balance the conflicting demands upon them.

First impressions are a must when arriving in a city. A city that demonstrates a commitment to quality and accessibility already starts with a huge advantage. Cities are not just where people live, but are destinations visited by millions of people per month!

Cities want to look good. They don't want to highlight their problems. They tend to be a welcoming and exciting environment for both the traveller, and the habitants.

Getting around the city is an issue that can create problems. How to move people around in safety, comfort and speed is a challenge faced by urban leaders.

It is difficult to design places such as railway stations, bus terminals and airports, that take away from conventional squalid and exhausting experience. Such places are often disordered -when quite frankly, they don't need to be. The examples of logical design within this book whether they are large or small, famous, or little-known, show the design at its best.

The designs mentioned involve the 'Gardrmoen Airport' in Oslo, Norway and the new 'TGV Mediterrnee Stations' in France. The design for the TGV station has the intention to the prepare travellers for the idea that they are about to embark upon a safe, enjoyable journey. This is how we all want to feel when travelling. We don't want to experience fear, or have to come face to face with crime. We want to feel looked after. We want to feel safe.

Activity 4B:

I feel like both my resources promote the design of safe cities, through design against crime. In the 'promoting design against crime' paper it was encouraging that design against crime is being increasingly introduced within design schools.

It is important for information regarding crime to be taught to those students who will be in charge or urban design and environment in the future. As time goes on, there is a greater demand on successful design in terms of sustainability and quality of life.

Within current city centres, CCTV cameras and good lighting are necessities when it comes to crime prevention/reduction. Good lighting should be used to improve natural surveillance beyond daylight hours and therefore reduce fear of crime. Lighting plays a part in creating a feeling of territoriality. It can influence an individual’s perception about his environment in aesthetic terms as well as safety.

There is a problem with theft with Listed buildings. However, almost any building with historic fixtures and fittings (both internal and external) can be a target for thieves who make large amounts of money reselling architectural artefacts. Architectural theft occurs most frequently when buildings are vacant or undergoing building work.

It is the combined responsibility of the urban designers and the police who need to ensure cities are kept secure at all times. Without constant refreshing ideas, cities will not be admirable places to live.  

Bibliography:

Journal:

Learmount, S. (2005) Promoting Design Against Crime. Designing Out Crime From Products and Systems. Crime prevention studies vol 18, 141 - 178

Book:

Hazel, G., Parry, R. (2004) Making Cities Work. Great Britain: Wiley-Academy