Design Against Crime

I read an interview with Mike Press and Rachel Cooper of Design Against Crime in Swedish design magazine Form (no. 1/2005).

[Interviewer asks:] “You say that we should create a situation where crime no longer exists – for example make the pubs free from dark corners and light up the parks. Isn’t that just sending the problem somewhere else?”

“In the beginning we were blamed because if we redid the interior of Pub A then the problem moved over to Pub B,” [Mike] Press answers. “But all our studies indicate that crime decreases throughout an entire area if you reduce it in one place.”

Form has abridged English versions of all articles, so in the Swedish version, Press’ answer is a little more verbose (here’s my translation):

“The effects of designing against crime go far beyond that portion of reality one directly works with. As in Hulme Park in Manchester [PDF file], which was in a very poor condition. [...] 4 million pounds later, when designers and architects had put an effort at redeveloping it, local police described it as a triumph by design: crime was down by 85-90 percent. And not just there – all surrounding areas was positively affected.

(For Swedish readers: Brottsförebyggande rådet har givit ut en svensk översättning av en av DAC:s rapporter.)