CPTED Best Practices
According to the concepts expressed by CPTED best practices, neighborhood refers to a mixture of people as well as uses (Atlas, 2013). In this line, CPTED best practices consider neighborhood not only as of the people and environment surrounding the region, they equally include how the surrounding environment is used to accommodate people. Atlas (2013) indicates that balance between the pedestrian and vehicular activities determines the survival of neighborhoods, thus, a confirmation that they equally form part of the neighborhood according to CPTED best practices. The idea of New Urbanism and the related traditional neighborhood design (TND) principle concept was established during the 1980s (Atlas, 2013). In this ideology, New Urbanism is defined as an architectural and planning organization focused on establishing new towns and neighborhoods in accordance with the traditional town design principles. The idea of New Urbanism is to eliminate the problem of Sprawl and modern Suburbia through the formulation of communities on a more human scale (Atlas, 2013). The scale is attained through the application of codes that manages density, vehicular traffic, zoning as well as other vital elements to formulate a neo-traditional town.
In connection to the ideas presented by CPTED best practices, Sprawl is the widespread of development outside town centers, mainly on formerly underdeveloped locations (Atlas, 2013). Also known as suburban sprawl, urban sprawl is usually developed in regions such as wetlands, farmlands, and even forests among others. According to the designs presented by CPTED best practices, Sprawls are marked by having low population per acre, homes that are isolated from commercial and industrial regions as well as branching street patterns (Atlas, 2013).
Landscaping
According to CPTED’s best practices, landscaping refers to the planning, laying out as well as the construction of gardens that beautifies the appearance and promote useable space for outdoor activities around the neighborhood. It is the use of vegetation to hinder unauthorized access (Iqbal & Ceccato, 2016). While CPTED aims to enhance security in the neighborhood, they claim that the way an individual designs a landscape is very vital to the management of security in the neighborhood.
Access control according to CPTED best practices, means management of who goes in and out of the neighborhood, public spaces, buildings as well as other places. It is concerned with formal and informal entry and exit points in public places, buildings, parking locations, or other places. To enhance access control, CPTED best practice suggests that landscaping of low groundcover, shrubs of maximum height at 24 inches, or high-canopied trees (clean trimmed to a height of 8 feet) are used around parking areas and along pedestrian pathways. It helps in making the region less likely for people to engage in criminal or nuisance behavior at that location, thereby promoting security in the region.
Landscaping can also be applied to promoting territoriality. It is the means of creating and developing places that are adopted by the individuals who become the legitimate users of that place, as such, they take ownership. It makes it hard for people to engage in criminal activities in such an area. It is attainable by landscaping public, private, and semipublic places.
Another application of landscaping in enhancing security is through the promotion of natural surveillance. It is the mechanism of having places open and visible. It thus, make a place dangerous for individuals intending to commit a crime (Iqbal & Ceccato, 2016).
Public places are considered safe if legitimate users can have a view of every action and the observers are able to monitor every activity. It is obvious that crimes often happen in hidden places, victims are usually removed from the public site to secluded places. The streets are always safe when you see and also can be seen by others as confirmed by Crowe & Fennelly (2013). Promoting clear sightlines is done through landscaping of those areas inappropriate manner that promotes natural surveillance. For instance, having trees with dense, low-growth foliage spaced apart as well as having their crowns raised to minimize continuous barrier as suggested by CPTED best practices (Iqbal & Ceccato, 2016).
Atlas (2013), Protecting Buildings and Infrastructure with CPTED considers landscaping as a vital component in managing security around buildings as well as other infrastructures. In this concept, CPTED best practices suggest that thorny plants can be used as an effective barrier to access to buildings (Atlas, 2013). In such, when doing landscaping for building, such barrier planning is vital for security enhancement. Again, through professional landscapers, it will be easy to understand that it is dangerous to have vegetation that can enable access to buildings. Large trees, utility structures as well as fences are not placed net to second-story windows or balconies that can offer means of access (Atlas, 2013). CPTED best practices equally indicate that vegetation should not conceal the building entrance from the main road. In this context, landscaping is applied to promote the security needed to protect buildings and infrastructures.