defensible space
The
defensible space theory of architect and city planner Oscar
Newman encompasses ideas about crime prevention and neighborhood safety.
The theory developed in the early 1970s, and he wrote his first book on
the topic,
Defensible Space in 1972. The book contains a study
from New York that pointed out that higher crime rate existed in
high-rise apartment buildings than in lower
housing projects.
This, he concluded, was because residents felt no control or personal
responsibility for an area occupied by so many people. Throughout his
study, Newman focused on explaining his ideas on
social control,
crime prevention, and public health in relation to community design.
Principles
Oscar Newman’s basic five principles of designing defensible space as
quoted in Design Guidelines for Creating Defensible Guidelines are as
follows:
- The assignment to different resident groups the specific
environments they are best able to utilize and control, as determined by
their ages, life-styles, socializing proclivities, backgrounds,
incomes, and family structures.
- The territorial definition of space in residential developments to
reflect the zone of influence of specific inhabitants. Residential
environments should be subdivided into zones toward which adjacent
residents can easily adopt proprietary attitudes.
- The juxtaposition of dwelling interiors with exterior spaces and the
placement of windows to allow residents to naturally survey the
exterior and interior public areas of their living environments and the
areas assigned for their use.
- The juxtaposition of dwellings—their entries and amenities—with city
streets so as to incorporate the streets within the sphere of influence
of the residential environment.
- The adoption of building forms and idioms that avoids the stigma of
peculiarity that allows others to perceive the vulnerability and
isolation of a particular group of inhabitants.
To create a defensible space community, residential areas should be
subdivided into smaller entities of similar families because control is
enhanced. Responsibility for the area is more easily assumed in a
smaller group of families as opposed to a larger
community.
Smaller groups more frequently use an area geared toward them. The
number of activities in the space is increased; thus, a feeling of
ownership and a need to protect the property follows. On the other hand,
when larger groups use a community space, no one has control over the
area, and an agreement over its acceptable uses is often in dispute.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensible_space_theory