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Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)

👥 Sociology By CampusDown Wiki Editorial Team Last updated
Quick answer: CPTED reduces opportunities for crime and fear of crime by changing the physical design of buildings and urban spaces.
Contents
  1. 1. Background
  2. 2. Five principles
  3. 3. Second-generation CPTED
  4. 4. Use and evaluation
  5. 5. References

Background

In The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) Jane Jacobs argued that "eyes on the street" keep places safe. The criminologist C. Ray Jeffery coined CPTED in 1971, and the architect Oscar Newman argued in Defensible Space (1972) that housing residents can see and feel ownership of reduces crime. Situational crime prevention and broken windows theory belong to the same family.

Five principles

  • Natural surveillance: open landscaping, good lighting and window placement so spaces are easily seen.
  • Access control: clear entrances and routes that make intrusion harder.
  • Territorial reinforcement: fences, paving and signs marking private and public space.
  • Activity support: encouraging legitimate use of parks and plazas to add informal watchers.
  • Maintenance: quick repair of graffiti and damage to signal that a place is cared for.

Second-generation CPTED

Recognising the limits of physical design, second-generation CPTED adds community participation, social cohesion, local culture and connectivity.

Use and evaluation

In Korea, Seoul's crime prevention design projects and 2015 national building design standards apply CPTED to apartments, convenience stores and parks. Studies report less crime and greater feelings of safety, but debates continue over displacement of crime elsewhere and over fortress-like design and surveillance.

References

  1. Jeffery, C. R. (1971). Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Sage.
  2. Newman, O. (1972). Defensible Space: Crime Prevention Through Urban Design. Macmillan.
  3. Jacobs, J. (1961). The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Random House.
  4. Cozens, P. M., Saville, G., & Hillier, D. (2005). Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED): A review and modern bibliography. Property Management, 23(5), 328-356.

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This article was last updated on October 15, 2026. It is based on widely recognized original works and textbooks; when citing it in a paper, please check the original sources listed in the references.