Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED)
For centuries researchers and have studied the relationship between the environment and
human behaviour. Accordant with such pursuits, Crime Prevention through Environmental
Design (CPTED) is an environmental criminology theory grounded in the proposition that
through the appropriate design and application of the built and surrounding environment both
crime and the fear of crime can be reduced. The premise expresses that although different
crimes are influenced or affected in different ways by the environment in which they occur,
almost every type of “street crime”, crimes against persons or property, are influenced in some
way by the physical design, layout, or by situational factors such as the presence of a victim or
target, the lack of guardianship, and the lack of surveillance opportunities. Crime Prevention
through Environmental Design (CPTED) has its theoretical basis in the Rational Choice
paradigm based within a human/environment interaction model.
Task:
You are to review the literature and drawing on an evidence based approach, discuss the
benefits and limitations of CPTED as an effective crime prevention strategy in contemporary
society.