By Sameen Ashraf, B.Sc, LL.B, M.Sc.
Community is a blanket, sewn together by conceptual nodes, with communication linking to form the fabric of society. The quality, integrity, and frequency of communication is therefore what determines how cohesive and resilient a society is. Collaboration facilitates innovation, mutual understanding, and thus, through individual needs being represented, collaboration also achieves holistic security.
Social capital is a natural outcome of civil discourse, and it is required for relational security, which is the glue for any security plan. Relational security is defined as the knowledge and understanding we have of a client, of ourselves, and of the environment, and the translation of that information into appropriate responses and care. For companies and institutions, it means understanding the composition of our environments so that we can deliver security based on diverse needs.
At the urban level, sharing knowledge and needs leads to greater collaboration towards mutual goals. At the international level, individual state security means a decentralization of policies to better serve universal needs and priorities. I’ve worked at both levels, building resilience through capacity development of underrepresented groups in developing countries, and negotiating international agreements based on actual benefit at the UN.
CPTED is a multi-disciplinary approach that uses urban and architectural design and management of built and natural environments. Our conceptual and physical environments can dually be designed to increase the frequency of meaningful interaction, invite participatory planning, and finally improve the quality of social capital. Crime prevention is a natural outcome of oversight and transparency, which must not exclusively be physical, but can also be political or technological.
There is a need to examine how our narratives are informed by traditional knowledge hierarchies and an acquiescence of governmental, colonial, and corporate influences, and thus not informed by civil discourse.
In international law, the security of one state depends on another. Inequitable policies in environment, war, and business human right scan contribute to further deterioration of the integrity of principles, which undermines the basic laws that sovereign states depend on. More equitable representation on the world stage, conversely, strengthens the bonds linking global business and foreign policies, permitting inclusive collaboration towards mutual security, economic, and environmental goals (which are universally beneficial), and thus, relational security.
The implementation of CPTED therefore can be facilitated through focusing on the conceptual framework it serves to liberate voices (both organizational and technological) and open pathways to communication. Opening up conceptual structures, such as organizations, policies, and digital media algorithms, may thus help to build resilient systems; our physical urban spaces, policy-making, and digital media spaces may collectively be designed to accommodate diverse viewpoints and hold differing interests. Less represented groups for example can label data for companies for AI so algorithms reflect demographic needs. Equitable discourse also facilitates progress and innovation: Equitable policies can bolster the health, wellbeing, and strength of individual societal components (e.g. people, communities, or nations) which can contribute to overall global progress and success. Togetherness may also offer us a way to build on a foundation of heterogeneity which helps to reframe our perspectives and generate innovative solutions.
CPTED can be applied through designing our communities with transparency and oversight as objectives of participatory processes. And through more oversight and transparency, we know there is relational security and a reduction in crime.
Cities and businesses can consider crime prevention and relational security as natural outcomes of societal cohesion and social discourse and liberate both physical and conceptual structures to improve representation of needs in diverse landscapes. Including this aspect of CPTED can facilitate holistic security and innovation inclusively and break down literal barriers to understanding. Participation in conceptual structures such as organizations and digital media invites traditionally marginalized viewpoints, which allows better collaborating on fundamental solutions for humanity’s historically rooted problems.
Guest Author
Duresameen Ashraf
Duresameen Ashraf is a former Analyst at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, with fourteen years of crime prevention and holistic security implementation as a consultant for community policing in Toronto, speaking at the UN, and experience in governmental and global intergovernmental agencies.