Design for Safe Living : Architects and police are working hand in hand to plan housing that deters crime but doesn’t feel fortress-like. Often, cheap and simple changes work better than bars and alarms. : Next L.A. / A look at issues, people and ideas helping to shape the emerging metropolis
Steve Clare knew he had a good project: 25 affordable apartments for working families in Venice, accented by patios and pleasant grounds featuring barbecues and play areas.
But he worried that the notorious gang problems of the surrounding Oakwood neighborhood might ruin it all.
So he took his blueprints to someone as comfortable with a gun as with a T-square, Los Angeles Police Officer Bill Longacre, an expert in designing places that foil crime without feeling like fortresses.
Longacre suggested cheap and simple changes--from redesigning the trash area so it would be harder for thugs to hide in to straightening out blind corners and improving the lighting.
In security-obsessed Los Angeles, more and more architects are working with police to make buildings safer and more pleasant, places that encourage neighbors to look out for each other and identify strangers more easily.
Although Americans are expected to spend $4 billion this year fortifying their homes with everything from retinal scanners to screeching alarms, dozens of simple and inexpensive measures can be incorporated in the design of buildings.
A few examples: Bougainvillea, strategically planted so its thorns deter burglars, can work as well as some alarms. Ivy on walls discourages graffiti taggers. Dark spots can be eliminated with a couple of inexpensive garden lights.
In the design phase, putting “active” rooms like kitchens and living rooms at the front of a house can allow residents to survey the street as they wash dishes or watch television.
For Clare, the changes to his project, which begins construction next month, were made with a few strokes of the drafting pencil. “They were all good, easy-to-accommodate suggestions that, who knows, might make a difference at some point,” said Clare, director of the Venice Community Housing Corp.
As the notion catches on that the way buildings and neighborhoods are designed can help fight or discourage crime, there is a growing awareness that many of the defensive measures taken over the past several years--such as block walls and razor wire--actually create more problems than they solve and, ironically, can end up making residents feel less safe.
“It has a spiraling effect,” explained Andrew Seidel, a professor of urban planning at Texas A&M; University. When one person on a block puts bars on windows or erects a wall at the sidewalk, others often follow suit, creating neighborhoods that look more like military checkpoints than suburbs. “The perception of crime may be worse than the reality.”
That perception is critical. When residents feel afraid--fear that can be reinforced every time they see graffiti or razor wire--they are less likely to treat the neighborhood as an extension of their home. They spend less time on their front lawn or on the sidewalk getting to know their neighbors.
And as the relationship between neighbors breaks down, it becomes more difficult to spot interlopers. In addition, measures such as barred windows send a message to visitors through a sort of structural shorthand that a neighborhood might have problems.
For example, when Emily Gabel, a Los Angeles city planner, and her husband were shopping for a new house, they found a Burbank neighborhood that seemed perfect--except that the house they were interested in had bars on all the windows.
“That sent up a big question mark,” said Gabel, who bought another house nearby for reasons other than the bars, which were installed by a resident who happened to be overly concerned with her home security.
While many residents may think bars and walls are their only defense against an increasingly hostile urban environment, security experts like Longacre believe they actually make places less safe.
For instance, walls in front of a house can block the view of passing patrol cars or of neighbors who might call the police, allowing burglars free rein of a home. And once the defenses of a gated community are breached, residents are as vulnerable as others. Los Angeles crime novelist Michael Connelly called such measures “feel-good gates” because that often is their only use.
“I think they deter maids and gardeners from lingering in a neighborhood, but I don’t think they have much impact on the professional criminal,” said urban theorist Mike Davis. Seidel agreed, pointing to a study that showed that the most effective deterrent to criminals was not a sign warning of sophisticated alarms, but one that said “Attack dogs trained and sold here.”
Recognizing that after-the-fact security measures only go so far, the Los Angeles City Council this month approved spending $25,000 to educate city planning and building officials about ways to incorporate less obtrusive security measures into development projects.
The Los Angeles guidelines are relatively modest in their goals and are voluntary, but they share the critical element of other, more comprehensive plans adopted by cities such as Toronto: People, not buildings, ultimately determine how safe a place is.
As easy as they sound, the techniques can backfire if people don’t support them, warned Oscar Newman, author of the book “Defensible Space.” “If the community does not want it, it will not work,” he said. “Because what you are doing is empowering people to take control of their public spaces.”
As early as the 1960s, urban critic Jane Jacobs argued that doing this has noticeable security benefits. Instead of relying on technology to catch bad guys in the act, people-friendly designs that lure people out of their dens and onto sidewalks and lawns create an informal network of neighbors along the lines of Neighborhood Watch.
To illustrate, Jacobs related the story of a man who was struggling with a young girl on a street that had an active street life. Within minutes, many shopkeepers and residents had moved in silently around the man. “Nobody,” Jacobs wrote, “was going to allow a little girl to be dragged off, even if nobody knew who she was.”
The man, it turned out, was the girl’s father, but that sort of self-policing is the inevitable goal of designers of defensible space.
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Simply Secure
Designing safer buildings doesn’t necessarily mean turning them into modern-day fortresses. In fact, dozens of simple, inexpensive measures--such as placing a TV set near a window with an unobstructed view--can increase security while also encouraging neighbors to look out for each other.
WHAT TO AVOID * High walls: While they may seem secure, high walls block a house from the view of passing police cars or neighbors who might know you are on vacation. They also block your view of the street and make it easier for strangers to move freely through a neighborhood. * Blind corners: Any recesses that allow someone to hide are potentially dangerous. Particularly vulnerable are trash areas in apartment buildings, which are generally shielded from view for aesthetic reasons. * Poor lighting: Many homes and public areas are so dimly lit that otherwise safe places become spooky. Designers stress that a few well-placed lights--along walkways, outside entries and exits--can do the trick. Stadium lighting is not necessary.
WHAT TO INCLUDE * Thorny bushes: Often more effective than an alarm system at deterring potential intruders, a few thorny bushes outside windows can make illicit entry a prickly affair. Burglars look for easy targets and don’t want to waste time fumbling through rose bushes or bougainvillea. * Low walls: In setting a yard apart, low walls or knee-high grade separations can make the point that you don’t want people on your lawn. Designers say we are adept at picking up visual cues more subtle than razor wire. Even a waist-high split-rail fence sends the message that anyone who crosses the line is on your property. * Porches or private entries: In apartment or condominium buildings, giving each tenant an entry or a small porch area increases the feeling of ownership, a critical element in citizen policing. * Big windows: Particularly important in public buildings such as stores, big windows allow people outside to see in an vice-versa. A convenience store clerk, for instance can see trouble coming from the parking lot and passing police can see in.
Source: Law enforcement officials
