Thanks Jenine for sharing that article. It was on point, for sure. I saw the comments about CPTED and research and had to jump in on the conversation. I've posted some of my comments below in another school safety thread, so pardon the repetition.
I certainly agree that CPTED and other strategies for designing out crime are only one factor in violence prevention, and that other major issues such as bullying and gun control need to be addressed in other non-design ways, but design can make a difference, which makes it absolutely worthy of discussion.
My non-architect perspective as a school psychologist is that by promoting mental health and psychosocial outcomes we can impact school climate, or the overall social environment. By using design to create more sense of community, foment a shared social identity for the student body, and make the school built environment psychologically comfortable, we can reduce bullying and promote mental health and social cohesion. Those are things that will have a real impact on school violence. But how do we provide safe school design that allows for emphasis on psychosocial goals? I think CPTED allows for meeting both of those needs, as your comments have highlighted.
What I think design research should also focus more on is student perceptions and their internal experience of safety and mental wellness in school environments, again because promoting psychological wellbeing is just as important as protecting school grounds from external threats.
I just finished my dissertation research which looked at the most basic questions about CPTED that researchers have not asked yet, and that is "How do students feel about CPTED school designs?" and "Would they feel safer and/or more psychologically comfortable in schools designed with CPTED?" I am currently working on a white paper for AIA that will discuss how CPTED can meet students' need for both sense of safety and psychological comfort, which will include results of my research. Keep an eye out for that white paper; and if you're interested I can send you more info about my research which I'll also be publishing this year (just reach out to me here on the AIA network).
My general finding is that students indeed prefer CPTED-based school designs, and that they prefer them for the perceived safety they afford as well as psychological comfort. Student open-ended comments certainly were polarized in terms of what they thought about fencing and large windows (for natural surveillance), but a majority leaned towards preferring CPTED principles.
To you who have posted in this thread, it sounds like we have overlapping research interests and should talk some time!
Lastly, if you're interested in selling the importance of CPTED to your clients, here's a brand new published article from folks at the CDC. They found that higher adherence to CPTED principles in school design is associated with less violence and higher sense of safety in those schools.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Characteristics Associated With Violence and Safety in Middle Schools. - PubMed - NCBI
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Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Characteristics Associated With Violence and Safety in Middle Schools. - PubMed - NCBI |
J Sch Health. 2018 Apr;88(4):296-305. doi: 10.1111/josh.12609. |
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Daniel Lamoreaux, PhD
School Psychologist
Sunnyside Unified School District
Tucson, Arizona
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-23-2018 12:54
From: Jenine Kotob
Subject: School Safety: One Architect's Personal Journey
Hi all,
Please check out my thoughts on school safety and the architecture community's response - this is part 1 of a 2 part series. Part 1 is my own personal journey and Part 2 looks at a case study project based in Washington, D.C.
As an architect who has been personally impacted by school violence, I've been delighted to see our community step up in defense of thoughtful, balanced and meaningful school design. These conversations need to continue and we need to become better equipped as a field at discussing such a sensitive topic - if only to be able to respond to questions from clients, protect the rights of our children to receive a dignified education, and to comfort concerned families.
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Jenine Kotob
Designer
Quinn Evans Architects- DC
Washington DC
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