CPTED Framework
How did we conceptualize our BART redesigns?
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Our team has conceptualized these designs from the variety of feedback found through social media, BART’s own community input work, and this website. Common issues that arose from our research included the following:
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Concerns of safety/crime at the stations
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Lack of seating and comfort
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Lack of signage and live updates
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Lack of bike storage
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Affordability
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Cleanliness
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Many of these problems are considered “wicked problems”, and thus, do not have simple solutions. They are systemic and deeply rooted in inequities and injustice, and cannot be solved by simple environmental design interventions.
However, there are a few frameworks in which one can use to address some of these issues, the most predominant of them being Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design or CPTED.
What is CPTED?
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Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a methodology created as a response to crime and neglect found in urban renewal projects in the 1960’s. Jane Jacobs was one of the first to observe, in The Death and Life of Great American Cities, that surveillance, demarcation of between public and private space, and presence of people, were key components of crime prevention.
Later, criminologists, environmental designers, and planners, began to conceptualize what was then called “Defensible Space”, as interventions in environmental design to prevent crime. Oscar Newman published a work Defensible Space: Crime Prevention in Urban Design (1973) which drew on behavioral scientists and people such as Jane Jacobs.
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Timothy Crowe, a former criminologist, created the fundamentals of CPTED in his book of the same title in 1991. Since then, the CPTED framework has gone through a few generations based on former criticisms and has become more and more prescribed.
The original CPTED framework relies on several fundamentals, including image management, territoriality, surveillance, access control, target hardening, and legitimate activity support. Emphasis is put on enforcing the presence of legitimate users of the space (Cozens and Love 396). Increasing visibility through larger windows, making legitimate users feel more welcome in the space, and other types of interventions are a large part of this framework.
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Although not without criticism, studies have shown that this methodology, combining multiple strategies, has reduced robberies between 30-84% in several case studies of small businesses (Casteel and Peek-Asa 2000).
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Figure 2. The seven crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) principles. Source: (Source: Cozens and Love 396).
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How does this relate to BART’s safety?
Although the issue of safety and crime on BART is a complex one, CPTED can be implemented to help solve these problems.
In all of our designs, we have made an effort to make legitimate users of the space more comfortable and present, as well as some added surveillance, to make it more difficult for people who are going to commit crimes such as theft and violence to accomplish them successfully.
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For example, in the MacArthur design, added seating at the far end of the platform, improved lighting, and some police boxes, increase the number of eyes on the platform, making it harder for people who are looking to commit crimes to get away with them. Proposing a farmer’s market would allow legitimate users to feel more welcome and willing to say in the space as well.
What are some limitations to CPTED and our approach?
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It is important to remember that crime prevention is a wicked problem that can’t be solved through simple interventions alone. CPTED is not a substitute for community-based safety strategies, which aim to solve more systematic problems. It is also important to understand community dynamics and social justice issues when approaching these design interventions, and thus, involve the community directly. There also must be solid understanding of the specific criminology of BART, which is something that is impossible to understand without proper research.
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BART police officers also have a history of violence against riders of color, and increasing their presence presents an inherent risk to this demographic. Thus, it is important for BART police to get proper training and experience systemic improvements in their interactions with people of color, along with these interventions.