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Design for High Crime


monsoon

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A lot of Defensible Space has to do with line of sight...bushes strategically placed to prevent someone from having access to window from the outside...things of that nature.

As crime/gangs have spread to suburbia, it seems that dead ends and cul-de-sacs are good places for abandoned properties and drug houses. It's not science but just what I've observed.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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Does New Urbanism cause crime? No more then guns kill people. Isn't it funny how the people making this assertion are the same ones that state "guns don't kill people, people kill people"? I guess logic only works when it supports your preconcieved notions of reality...how else do you explain the popularity of FOX News? :D
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"The same things hold true for gated communities as well. They offer a false sense of security that often lets residents drop their guard long enough for crimes to be committed.

Gated communities and cul-de-sacs are unintentionally designed *for* crime, but not necessarily high crime. The mid-late 20th century projects were failures because they concentrated the unskilled labor force and forced them to take drastic actions to survive. Drugs, gangs, assault, etc. became accepted practices because communites refused to provide necessary services and traded access to basic retail to access for alcohol and other vices. "

I grew up in a gated community that had no crime whatsoever, so I don't know where this statement comes from.

I think it really depends on how they design and build the environment, but every New Urbanist neighborhood I know of is pretty much crime free as well. Obviously, if one is near a crime ridden area, it has a highter chance of crime.

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The principles of NU are laudible in theory but lacking in practical application. One can attest to the communal benefits of walkable streets, minimal setbacks, and public spaces etc., but the socioeceonomic composition of the households occupying a space are much more determinant of the relative "safety" of a community. Developments like Seaside and Celebration are as much about urban reality as their neighbor, Disney World. The reality of life is quite different when one lives well above the poverty line.

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Suburbanism is in NO WAY an option for anything. And and urban area DOES NOT equal higher crime. However current ways cities are built don't really discourage crime, which is why they need to be changed by things such as New Urbanism, Authentic Urbanism, etc...

Gated communities are horrible, no matter who you are or where you live. Their construction needs to be banned at all costs.

It doesn't matter what the current "reality" is in America, we have to change the current reality to something else, and we have to change our cities drastically in many ways.

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From that Reason article:

The result was his 1972 book Defensible Space, which showed that the safest neighborhoods maximized private space and minimized common zones. Safe areas also minimized "permeability," that is, the ease of entry to and exit from the neighborhood or housing area. Cul-de-sacs are thus a crime-prevention device, and any breaching of cul-de-sacs will predictably increase crime.

Wow! That's a hellava jump to make, and based on book written almost 40 years ago. Broad statements of crime and land use relationships are made all the time, but rarely based on up-to-date data.

Mixed-use and new urbanist developments are and will continue to do well as demographics of the country continue to diversify, traffic congestion worsens, and gas prices rise. The resurgence in urban living is permeating all areas of the country as the baby boomers retire, empty-nesters downsize, and young home buyers look for something different than a typical suburban existance.

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I grew up in a gated community that had no crime whatsoever, so I don't know where this statement comes from.

I think it really depends on how they design and build the environment, but every New Urbanist neighborhood I know of is pretty much crime free as well. Obviously, if one is near a crime ridden area, it has a highter chance of crime.

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