SECURED BY DESIGN

"Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes." Confucius Chinese philosopher & reformer (551 BC - 479 BC)

I’ve attended the monthly CPD again. This time seminar is entitled “Secured by Design”. The seminar explained how certain aspects of design work against crime. Even though the crime consideration sounds familiar for most planners but it is rarely being put into consideration by most architects in their designs. It would usually come as the last thing to be considered. I once learned about this aspect during my urban semester.

This seminar further explains certain building design that would make a lot of difference in avoiding crime from happening. I learnt about the triangle of crime which consists of Motivated Offender, Opportunity and Suitable Target. The aspect that we as designers should strive on to reduce crime is by removing the Opportunity component from the crime triangle.

There are aspects of design that would create a sense of ownership, defining the public and private space with a good transitional space, getting the right landscape and even in the material selection that could eventually reduce crime.

There are several legislation and acts that architects need to consider as part of their design. Currently, architects would consult their local police about the development of the project they are working at the final stage of planning application. However, it is now more advisable for us to seek for the police consultation at the early stage of design process.

Fighting crime is apparently the responsibility of everyone in the community. For designers and architects, this design against crime would be our best contribution to the safety of society. Sadly though, the society sometimes doesn’t seem to appreciate the role of architects and planners in fighting crime at least not until serious crime ends fatally.