There is no question that storytelling has always been intriguing and especially as children. It’s become a bit of a phenomenon as of late with more and more people offering storytelling workshops. It seems rather fitting then that our upcoming conference theme is – CPTED Success Stories.
In keeping with that idea I would like to propose knowing more about your stories and how CPTED has influenced your work over the years. As the methodology continues to evolve it’s important that we share our experiences.
My own story of CPTED continues to evolve and follows a 25 year timeline. It’s a long time and with it comes many great memories … and a few that aren’t so great too. It all began in 1999 when I attended a Level 1 course taught by the late Timothy Crowe whom many of you will remember for his great contributions to CPTED. This was followed by my Level 2 course taught by our very own president, Tom McKay. I went on to take many other courses that built upon my learnings. I suppose you could call me a life-long learner.
Fast forward to my current work as a Community Safety Practitioner whereby I often use CPTED in my various projects. In fact, it’s extremely rare that I don’t use this best practice in my work. The challenge is often one whereby different governments, city officials, planners or other professionals don’t have a solid grasp or deep understanding of the principles and how they are to be applied for the best possible outcomes.
What I have learned over all these years is that CPTED is not always the best stand-alone solution. It can be easily supported by other best practices that align with it, including Placemaking and the Healthy Built Environment Toolkit. In fact, this has come to make up my own approach to the work I do across Canada. Call it what you may but I refer to it as our Full SPECTRUM approach to Community Safety and Well-Being. It’s all open-source information so there is no need for copyrights and trying to protect information that if used properly protects our communities, and enhances our safety and well-being.
So, I invite you to share your stories with us. Better yet, join us for our upcoming conference and begin networking with hundreds of CPTED practitioners and enthusiasts from east to west. You can reach out through out website and we can begin to co-create another story, one of collaboration and mutual learning.
I look forward to learning with you and hope to see you on April 25th in Toronto whether it be in-person or virtually.
Steve
VP CPTED Canada