Hi Tom,
I read your “I’m having a C. Ray Jeffery Moment” blog and I think it’s about time that I fess up that I’ve never really understood all these ‘generations’ of CPTED. Perhaps you’ll indulge my ignorance, not having come to CPTED by way of any of the traditional paths.
To me, CPTED has always been the process of guessing how human behaviour will respond to a particular environment. How will the environment attract ‘legitimate’ users while discouraging ‘unwanted’ activities? And how do we use CPTED methodology to manipulate that environment to attain best-case scenario?
You state that “people are inherently social by nature” which is true but it actually goes deeper than that. Without question, humans are a social species, hence the necessity for genes that regulate behaviours that allow us to live communally. Specifically, these genes include those that require us to seek human contact, to adhere to communal rules, and to have empathy. As with all genes, there are variations (alleles) that manifest a specific trait as a spectrum within a population. (Think of hair colour – natural, that is. From white to blonde to red to brown to jet black and everything in between.) The same goes for behaviours.
Most genes, including behavioural ones, manifest their gene products in response to the environment in which the individual inhabits. To me, this is where CPTED comes in to the picture. For years, I’ve been using the steps of the ‘conventional CPTED flowchart’ to help me guess how a variety of individuals will react to the space in question and design accordingly. How can we make a playground, for example, attractive to children and their caretakers while discouraging misuse?
So, in this example, we build playgrounds that are visible from the street with child-sized structures that eliminate hiding spots, install benches with seat dividers facing the playground to allow caretakers to interact with each other while keeping an eye on the young ones, strategically place garbage containers to encourage users to keep the place clean. And finally, address the lighting issue.
But if we notice that teens loiter there, then the obvious way to address that problem is to provide an alternate space for them to congregate safely. If it will be uncomfortable for homeless people to use the benches as impromptu beds, this is not a failing of CPTED but of agencies mandated to assist such folk. And those who would do harm? Well, good sight lines and an attractive space to draw the eyes of passersby should reduce such a possibility as would sporadic walks through by officers.
But how do we find out about the behaviours of folk who might access our playground? The most reliable and my most used CPTED tool is to talk to the people who are already present in the space to find out what is going on.
And here’s where the ‘generational CPTED’ thing comes in. Those people may change over time and so our perception of what that park needs to make it safe and attractive will likely also change. In other words, our CPTED analysis must keep up with the times and address itself to the current human behaviours. Circumstances interact with the genetics of the individual that can change ‘usual’ behaviour into something quite different. (Can we say ‘lockdowns’ and ‘masking’?)
However, we cannot let CPTED be hijacked by red herring arguments such as poverty, homelessness, etc. Poverty is a relative term and as such, will never be eliminated. Furthermore, CPTED was never meant to solve the problems of the universe. Its aim is to help create the safest spaces possible under the current circumstances. The rest are problems for other specialized agencies to deal with.
I guess the bottom line is that, to me, CPTED has always relied on predicting human behaviour and we need to acknowledge that behaviour changes with changing environments and act accordingly to create safe, holistic, efficient and cost-effective spaces for people to inhabit. The beauty of CPTED is that it encourages us to think outside the box.
Oh, and apologies for the genetics lecture.
Best regards,
Barbara