Evolution Process of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) in Residential Areas

The aim of this paper is to review the evolution process of Crime Prevention throughEnvironmental Design (CPTED) as the main approach for crime prevention and improvingenvironmental security and propose some solutions to architects and urban designers based on this approach. Using documentary method, we have analyzed CPTED evolution. First generation raised in 1960’s, focused on physical reforms in the environment to attain security; second generation of CPTED in 1990’s, seizes the concept of social ecology and promotes the idea of social stabilizers as well as balanced land uses. It includes social and psychical aspects as the base of security attainment and finally the third generation after 2000, proposed Safe Growth model to sustain security in residential areas. The first generation of CPTED was criticized because of low attention to the other important aspects of crime occurrence and focusing mostly on physical characteristic of the environment and low attention to interconnected social infrastructure and networks, are the most important shortcoming of this generation, which resulted in the development of second generation, as well as raising of social and psychical aspects in urban designing. After that, sustainable security was proposed, which means the security should be protected by using all achievement of previous approaches including physical and social reforms and improvements. That is, all efforts should be aligned to bring up more securityin the secured residential areas. This philosophy leads to Safe Growth model. Safe Growth is a community planning and capacity building model tailored for locally-driven public safety initiatives. This approach employs a more holistic style of neighborhood development than occurs in traditional prevention theory. An effective Safe Growth Plan offers an alternative to yearly crime summaries as a measure of neighborhood safety or annual police reports as a measure of police performance. Community developers, planners and law enforcement use Safe Growth to improve safety in neighborhoods.The result shows that many researchers and publications believe that the crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) is not only effective in reducing crime occurrence but also increase feeling security in the community. Finally this paper propose a plan containing goals and policies based on CPTED principals and approaches for crime prevention design and increasing safety feeling in urban districts. This plan could be used as an instruction to urban designers. Also this review provides an extensive bibliography of contemporary crime prevention through environmental design.