Crime prevention through environmental design

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Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) is an agenda for manipulating the built environment to create safer neighborhoods.

It originated in the contiguous United States around 1960 when urban designers recognized that urban renewal strategies were risking the social framework needed for self-policing. Architect Oscar Newman created the concept of "defensible space", developed further by criminologist C. Ray Jeffery, who coined the term CPTED. The growing interest in environmental criminology led to a detailed study of specific topics such as natural surveillance, access control, and territoriality. The "broken window" principle, that neglected zones invite crime, reinforced the need for good property maintenance to assert visible ownership of space. Appropriate environmental design can also increase the perceived likelihood of detection and apprehension, the most significant crime deterrent. There has also been a new interest in the interior design of prisons as an environment that significantly affects offending decisions.

Wide-ranging recommendations to architects include planting trees and shrubs, eliminating escape routes, correcting the use of lighting, and encouraging pedestrian and bicycle traffic in streets. Tests show that the application of CPTED measures reduces criminal activity.