Residential areas are the heart of a city. Our homes are the centers of our lives, where we should feel most safe. And, while we may have multiple choices when it comes to walking through a certain part of town or using public transportation, we have few choices when it comes to the streets where we live.
The guiding principle here is "know thy neighbor." Street and homes should be designed to encourage interaction between. neighbors: good examples of these design elements are the front porch and property lines that are define simply by low shrubbery instead of high fences.
CPTED Guidelines
1. Natural Access Control
- walkways and landscaping direct visitors to the proper entrance and away from private areas.
2. Natural Surveillance
- all doorways that open to the outside should be well lit.
- the front door should be at least partially visible from the street
- windows on all sides of the house provide full visibility of property
- sidewalks and all areas of the yard should be well lit
- the driveway should be visible from either the front or back door and at least one window
- the front door should be clearly visible from the driveway
- properly maintained landscaping provides maximum viewing to and, from the house
3. Territorial Reinforcement
- front porches or stoops create a transitional area between the street, and the home
- property lines and private areas should be defined with plantings, pavement treatments or fences
- the street address should be clearly visible from the street with numbers a minimum of five inches high that are made of non-reflective material
4. Target Hardening
- interior doors that connect a garage to a building should have a single cylinder dead bolt lock
- Door locks should be located a minimum of 40 inches from adjacent windows
- exterior doors should be hinged on the inside and should have a single cylinder dead bolt lock with a minimum one-inch throw
- new houses should not have jalousie, casement or awning style windows
- all windows should have locks
- sliding glass doors should have one permanent door on the outside; the inside moving door should have a looking device and a pin
Often the safety measures taken in subdivision communities, such as high fences and video monitored gates, can have a negative instead of positive effect on residents. CPTED guidelines, when applied to subdivisions, can create a safe environment without the use of the more common, conspicuous methods.
For instance, streets designed with gateway treatments, roundabouts, speed tables and other "traffic calming" devices discourage speed and cut through traffic. And by keeping public areas observable, you are telling potential offenders, they'd better think twice before committing a crime.
These measures are simple, inexpensive to implement and will have a much more positive effect on residents than gates and bars.
CPTED Guidelines
1. Natural Access Control
- access should be limited (without completely disconnecting the subdivision from adjacent subdivisions)
- streets should be designed to discourage cut-through traffic
- paving treatments, plantings and architectural design features such as a columned gateway guide visitors away from private areas
- walkways should be located in such a way as to direct pedestrian traffic and should be kept unobscured
2. Natural Surveillance
- landscaping should not create blind spots or hiding spots
- open green spaces and recreational areas should be located so that they can be observed from nearby homes
- pedestrian scale street lighting should be used in high pedestrian traffic areas
3. Territorial Reinforcement
- lots, streets and houses should be designed to encourage interaction between neighbors
- entrances should be accentuated with different paving materials, changes in street elevation, architectural and landscape design
- residences should be clearly identified by street address numbers that are a minimum of five inches high and well lit night
- property lines should be defined with post and pillar fencing, gates and plantings to direct pedestrian traffic
- all parking spaces should be assigned
Single and Multiple Building
Multiple buildings pose the same problems as single buildings, although these problems can easily be compounded by the number of dwellings and residents. Here we have a much greater number of public areas to consider: shared interior hallways, elevators, laundry rooms and parking areas.
But multiple dwelling buildings don’t necessarily mean multiple problems. There's a certain amount of truth to the old saying; "There's safety in numbers" and with neighbors who take responsibility for each other there's no reason why a multiple dwelling building cannot be a safe place to live.
CPTED Guidelines
1. Natural Access Control
- balcony railings should never be a solid opaque material or more, than 42 inches high
- entrances into parking lots should be defined by landscaping, architectural design, or monitored by a guard
- dead end spaces should be blocked by a fence or gate
- common building entrances should have locks that automatically lock when the door closes
- hallways should be well lit
- no move than four apartments should share the same entrance
- elevators and stairwells should be centrally located
- access to the building should be limited to no more than two points
2. Natural Surveillance
- exterior doors should be visible from the street or by neighbors
- all doors that open to the outside should be well lit
- all four facade should have windows
- parking spaces should be assigned to each unit located adjacent to that unit, and not marked by unit numbers
- visitor parking should be designated
- parking areas should be visible from windows and doors
- parking areas and pedestrian walkways should be well lit
- recreation areas should be visible from a multitude of windows and doors
- dumpsters should not create blind spots or hiding areas
- elevators and stairwells should be clearly visible from windows and doors
- shrubbery should be no more than three feet high for clear visibility
- buildings should be sited so that the windows and doors of one unit are visible from another
- stairwells should be well lit and open to view; not behind solid walls
3. Territorial Reinforcement
- property lines should be defined by landscaping or post and pillar fencing
- low shrubbery and fencing should allow visibility from the street
- building entrances should be accentuated by architectural elements, lighting and /or landscaping
- door knobs should be 40 inches from window panes
- all buildings and residential units should be clearly identified by street address numbers that are a minimum of five inches high, and well lit at night
- common doorways should have windows and be key controlled by residents
- mailboxes should be located next to the appropriate residences
4. Target Hardening
- since cylinder dead bolt locks should be installed on all exterior doors
- door hinges should be located on the interior side of the door
- sliding glass doors should have one permanent door on the outside and on the inside moving door should have a lock device and a pin
