Piano in the Bronx - New York City

Recently, I have spoken in two small Central Alberta Communities about Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED).  During these presentations, it’s difficult not to address more than just the “traditional” principles and talk about a more holistic solution – 2nd Generation CPTED. Today, marked the launch of a two-week project in New York, which will feature 60 public pianos in locations throughout their five boroughs. This initiative was started by artist Luke Jerram.

For those of us that practice CPTED, we know that projects such as this create more Activity Support on the street and bring life to our public spaces. It can be powerful and inspiring to see our streets be totally transformed as a result of  music.  However, there is a lot more to this than meets the ear.

Events such as this help break down barriers and musicians can truly interact with local residents and visitors. As people gather in these public spaces, they begin to listen to something that is truly “universal” in nature – MUSIC. Few of us can say that we don’t enjoy some form of music and it’s therapeutic benefits. As people listen, they begin to interact with one another. It might be a familiar melody that everyone recognizes as they sing along or simply a quick comment to the person standing next to them. One thing is certain, when crowds gather around they are enjoying more than just music, they are capturing a moment together in time and space. There is often laughter and people generally feel safe and relaxed in these settings.  It’s projects such as this that engage us and as the Sing for Hope slogan indicates, it’s “Arts Activism in Action”.

CPR Railway Bridge - Red Deer, Alberta

In 2008, I conducted a CPTED Assessment of the CPR Bridge and the surrounding park spaces. During many site visits both day and night, I came to enjoy this public space and still frequently walk this neighbourhood, enjoying it’s diversity. As part of my work, I have the pleasure of studying various environments and making recommendations that are based on good CPTED practices.

When these recommendations are considered and change occurs it’s exciting and they can transform a space. The City of Red Deer has been instrumental in supporting CPTED and continues to do so. Recommendations were made to increase Activity Support by celebrating this beautiful space and using it for art and cultural activities. Now, on July 2nd, Red Deer residents will be able to enjoy a special event called “Blues on the Bridge”.  If weather is not cooperative, the back-up date will be Friday, July 9th.  For more details contact BIG 105.5 FM or 106.7 The Drive.

The question I would pose to every community, to every resident and business owner is this – What are you doing to CREATE – INSPIRE – INTEGRATE & ENLIVEN your community?

The CAQT will be creating art to improve safety and promote community pride in a neighbourhood plagued with crime, gangs, and drug dealing. AOB’s 20 apprentices are working with CAQT residents and a team of experts in art, design, crime prevention, and community development to create temporary and public art projects that will enhance the quality of life for hundreds of families.

Now, if that doesn’t sound like 2nd Generation CPTED at its best, you had better read further. The CAQT Community Centre is a community-based program centre of YMCA Youth and Family Services (YFS). The centre was established over 18 years ago to address the urgent needs of the underserved and ethnically diverse community in eastern Silver Spring, Maryland. The community centre is a safe haven for youth and families, and YFS provides an emergency food pantry, homework assistance for children, and a variety of adult services.

For those of us that are seeking out new ideas and embracing social development alternatives that can have an impact in our communities, the CAQT will be well worth following. On the home front, remember that we have our own success stories.  Find out more by visiting the CAQT Blog where I recently contributed a guest feature. Finally, don’t forget that the Annual Red Deer Artwalk Festival happens the middle of June.  Artwalk showcases local artists working at various venues, offers an evening of gallery hopping, a film event and a whole day festival with live music, extensive Art Market and FUN!

It’s always nice to brag about your own community and what’s great about it.  As a CPTED consultant living and working in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, we are on the right track.  Our municipality clearly understands CPTED and how it can benefit every resident and business owner.  However, this article is also about good leadership and those that support it.  It’s spring finally and this reminds me of a book my wife recently read called Let Your Life Speak, by Parker Palmer.  It’s a great little book that asks it’s readers to “Listen for the Voice of Vocation” in each of us. It reminded me of some of the leaders I have been working with during the past few years.  This list of names would be long but it’s clear that each of them are leaders in their vocations. I consider them more than simply colleagues, they are critical to my success as a CPTED practitioner.  They come from various city departments such as community services, social planning, licensing and inspections, parks, recreation, culture, planning services and the list goes on.  Various businesses, non-profit organizations, residents and certainly our local RCMP also play primary leadership roles in the successful implementation of CPTED.

There is no doubt in my mind that social planning plays a tremendous role in designing out crime and improving community safety.  For those that truly think traditional CPTED practices are a panacea for crime, they’re missing one of the key ingredients. Since last year, I have been privileged to participate in several important groups, one for high-risk youth and the other, a social marketing campaign for our homeless and other vulnerable community members. It has been a tremendous learning experience and I realize that the success of CPTED requires feedback and support from these groups and those we are helping.  I’ve been offered a unique opportunity to “see” the environments they work in and those people they are interacting with each and every day. We are not the only city pushing the envelope and challenging ourselves. Teens are taking to rebuilding communities all over the world.  Take for example the Build On Program and the dedicated teens serving their community in Detroit. For them, it’s all about giving back and trying to help create safe streets and neighbourhoods.

Finally, without community support various programs and new initiatives will never be successful, including CPTED. This is required at all levels and from all sectors.  I often say that “it’s not about how well we work alone, it’s about working together.  We are starting to hear a lot more about companies, big and small, stepping up to the plate and being more socially responsible.  For many of these companies, it’s helped create a shift in their way of thinking and how they conduct business.  They are not just considering their ROI, they are seriously embracing Social Return on Investment (SROI). I’m hoping that we all begin hearing more about SROI in the near future.  More importantly, let’s start practicing it.  Find your true vocation and ask yourself – What inspires you?

Some of those same people, once home from New York and Paris and Montreal and Vancouver, fail to see the potential in their own home town. Back in the day-to-day grind of going to work, taking kids to school, and meeting obligations, it’s easy to revert to thinking just about one’s own home and a handful of key destinations in the community.

Steve asked me to contribute some thoughts to this blog because he knows that I’m passionate about great streets. I believe that great communities are created, for the most part, in the public sphere – outdoor spaces and common spaces where we interact with one another.

This involves the design of buildings, streets, parks and other spaces. Watch how streets work and notice how they encourage or discourage behaviors. CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) of course looks at design that discourages criminal behavior – avoiding hiding places, keeping areas lit and so on.

But beyond discouraging criminals, it’s interesting to notice how much our physical environment influences our everyday behavior, often without us being consciously aware of its influence. One downtown retail specialist I heard at a conference noted how our shopping behavior is influenced by blank or empty spaces. If we are browsing down a retail street, window shopping and popping in here and there, and come upon either a large building with blank walls or an empty space (including parking lots), we instinctively reverse direction. We have subconsciously decided that it’s not worth our effort, or perhaps a little risky, to leave the cluster of retail shops in hopes that there might be more beyond the blank spaces.

So successful urban design is a complex and subtle art. But we know that in addition to structural design, the planning and encouraging of street activity is important.  We are safe, and we feel safe, when we are surrounded by others.

I love the stuff that community activists are doing at www.livablestreets.com. Their focus is on all the potential constructive activities that can happen on well designed streets – streets that not only move cars but encourage people to walk, shop, stop to talk to one another, sit and people-watch or watch performers.

Another positive approach to development is Appreciative Inquiry – an approach that helps groups of people focus on creating their ideal future.  The key here is creating – not complaining, attacking, or ‘going to war’ against this problem or that. A war mentality and language will give you just that – war.

I like Steve’s approach on this blog site: “helping create safe communities and neighbourhoods.”  They key word there, I think, is “create.”

Safe and healthy communities are creative places – where kids, adults, and seniors are all engaged in doing great things.  Did you know that the presence of children’s chalk art on a city street slows cars?  I was reminded of this while walking down a street in Victoria’s Fairfield neighbourhood, where I live part-time.  There in the middle of the street were a bunch of kids’ chalk drawings, along with a message “slow down, children at play” – in chalk.

The kids in that neighbourhood are safer in their streets because they live in them – they don’t fear them and stay locked up in “safety” indoors.

I am also encouraged by the potential for social media – Facebook, Twitter and many others – to contribute to our sense of community. Contrary to what many would assume, much social media activity online actually involves discussion about our face-to-face communities – that ‘real world’ out there on our streets and in our parks.

So the answers to community safety, in my mind, start with active, engaged citizens who care enough to interact with one another in public spaces – and work to design those spaces so that they encourage, rather than discourage, community life.

_ _ _

Lorne Daniel is a writer, communications consultant and strategic planner whose work (www.grandviewconsulting.com) has won awards from the Canadian Institute of Planners and International Downtown Association. You can subscribe to his blog at www.lornedaniel.com and follow him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LorneDaniel

When Steve asked me to contribute to this blog a line from a famous play came to mind. With apologies to Skakespeare: If our prevention cause is just and our method of achieving it honorable, “methinks I could not die anywhere so contented as in the king’s company”. Steve will no doubt shudder at being prevention king. But I think he’ll agree with my message. It is called SafeGrowth.

It boils down to this:

1. There is a cloud of confusion obstructing clear-headed thinking when it comes to crime. We must deal with facts, not ideology.
2. We cannot arrest, imprison, or target harden our way out of crime.
3. There is no point in creating a safe physical place if people are disengaged from community life.
4. Crime is best tackled in the neighbourhood by harnessing the creativity and energy of neighbourhood dwellers and functional neighbourhood groups.

SafeGrowth relates to an idea rediscovered by writer Jane Jacobs – the success of a city is based in small neighbourhoods. It includes success in reducing crime.

In SafeGrowth neighbours create their own annual, measurable, safety plan. Every SafeGrowth plan uses diagnostic techniques: a crime risk matrix, crime mapping and asset mapping, safety audits, and other methods of crime prevention science.

Putting SafeGrowth into practice is not easy. How do we get neighbourhoods activated? Who wants to go to more meetings? Why can’t the police just do their job? These are the obstacles we must overcome.

One way to do that is to use radical common sense.
http://safe-growth.blogspot.com/2009/08/radical-common-sense.html

This is the idea that we cannot solve our deepest problems through traditional ways. This means accepting the criminal justice system as an adversarial, blunt tool. Instead our future exists in cooperating, sharing best practices, and accepting that our fate is tied to that of others.

Also, we must vote for provincial and federal leaders who will better resource municipalities. In turn, municipalities must refine, or create, a network of geographical neighbourhoods. They must upskill neighbourhood groups to develop annual safety plans in cooperation with service providers.

Embryonic SafeGrowth neighbourhoods are already underway in Toronto’s Jane/Finch,
http://safe-growth.blogspot.com/2009/06/waking-up-to-21st-century-prevention.html

in Saskatoon,
http://safe-growth.blogspot.com/2009/05/doin-it-right-on-wrong-side-of-town.html

and Detroit’s Central Woodward neighbourhood in the U.S.
http://www.detroit-lisc.org/display.aspx?pointer=9122

This is radical common sense in the 21st Century. Join Steve and myself in helping make this happen where you live and work.

Ogden Point - Victoria, BC

Recently, I attended The Anti Graffiti Symposium (TAGS) in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia. Hosted by the Victoria Police Department and the Township of Esquimalt it proved to be an interesting couple of days with a variety of exceptional speakers, both local and International. The objective of the 2009 TAGS event was to educate law enforcement agencies, government, crime prevention professionals and the general public about issues of graffiti crime in their communities and to clarify some of the following questions about this type of vandalism: Who is doing it, what does it mean, how do we investigate it, how do we prevent and control it?

Speakers from as far away as Sweden and Australia joined other experts from various US cities and Canadian authorities from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to offer their insights on the subject. As a Crime Prevention practitioner specializing in Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED), it provided me with an abundance of information that can now be shared with my own community and others throughout Central Alberta. 

Recent Graffiti in Red Deer, AB

The lingo that “taggers” use is part of a subculture that has been around for years and is still evolving. As Constable Valerie Spicer of the Vancouver Police Department suggested, the more connected a person is to graffiti subculture the more likely they will become involved in violence. There is no doubt that she is considered an expert by her peers.  With many credentials she is also a PhD candidate in the Criminology program at Simon Fraser University and co-initiated the RESTART program which is a restorative justice art program for graffiti offenders. Education and awareness is key and she points out that this problem typically begins in Grades 8 – 10, with 94% of the offenders being male.

During the symposium, I sensed the dedication and passion that many of these speakers possess and it reminded me of how important some crime-related issues really are to the overall health of our communities. Graffiti impacts our quality of life and contributes to the fear of crime. That being said, without the social development element or what we now refer to as 2nd Generation CPTED being utilized, standard CPTED practices will ultimately fail. This problem is far reaching, from risky behavior and the theft of spray paint from retailers to more violent crime.

There is a lot to be said for utilizing best practices, especially when they support more than just CPTED. Often, the writing really is on the wall, we only have to look for a well-balanced approach to find a solution. Is Graffiti art?  Absolutely not, in fact all of the speakers agreed that the difference between art and graffiti has everything to do with one word – PERMISSION!  If there is no permission, it is vandalism.  There is no doubt that murals work well in many cases and add an artistic element to our communities.  So how about a Graffiti Mural Competition?  Brilliant!

Did I leave the best for last … you bet I did.  TAGS 2010 will be held in Calgary, Alberta

Arnel Pineda of Journey

This is an inspiring story indeed and one that should be shared, especially among those who could use a little good news now and then.  All too often, in communities throughout the world we hear about our homeless and those living in poverty.  Many stories are negative but as we give thanks today for all that we have, we should celebrate, for there are those that refuse to give up and serve as beacons of hope. Here is a success story that will inspire all of us and demonstrates the strength in those who “Don’t Stop Believing“.

Many communities, including Red Deer, Alberta have identified Homelessness as a priority.  City council recently endorsed “Everyone’s Home” – a 5 year community initiative towards ending homelessness from 2010 – 2015  Many people and various organizations have taken the lead in getting people off the street and into necessary shelter.  A social marketing campaign is also well underway in an effort to reduce discrimination and hopefully change the way we treat some of our most vulnerable community members.

In Red Deer, the 3rd edition of our Vital Signs Community Annual Check Up for 2009 was recently released.  It’s a snapshot of what our community deems some of it’s most important issues.  The Top 3 issues identified are (1) Crime/Law & Order, (2) Health Care and (3) Poverty/Homelessness/Hunger.  Also making headlines this past week was Canada capturing the No. 4 position on the United Nations “Quality of Life” index. The UN’s description for quality of life is – “notion of human welfare (well-being) measured by social indicators rather than by “quantitative” measures of income and production.”

Community Crime Prevention efforts makes all of this very relative as the Top 3 community issues in Red Deer are likely a concern among many communities around the world. It raises many important questions as citizens or as crime prevention practitioners.  How are you addressing these concerns as a resident of your community?  How are parents engaging their children to become part of a solution? Is your employer playing an active role or simply concerned with creating an impressive bottom-line for it’s shareholders?  For those of us focusing on crime prevention in our communities we need to take a closer look at how we can make an impact.  Can we improve the built environment (CPTED) by making places safer for our homeless and vulnerable populations? Can our public servants be more understanding and respectful of those less fortunate?  It’s important that we continue to ask ourselves these types of questions but critical that we make the necessary adjustments that will bring about changes in our behavior.  I encourage everyone this Thanksgiving to “believe” that they can be part of the solution and to demonstrate this in some small way each day – this is community spirit in action!

Feeling extremely compelled to offer some support to the Stettlerite I found myself commenting on the newspapers blog, here is what I wrote:

” Your concerns are being voiced in many communities throughout our province. Trust me when I say, you are not alone. There are certainly solutions but they are not overnight remedies, they do take time and a commitment from the community. You may actually hold the key by being the catalyst for change or as some people like to refer to them, an Agent of Change.

The Police are doing their part and the government is doing theirs.  However, we are often critical of both and I attribute this negativity to our frustration with the crime we see in our communities. Make no mistake, they are challenged, just as we are by issues such as funding and capacity. They need people like you and I to step forward and be a support. We are only limited by our own creativity when it comes to community-based crime prevention.

The more each of us play a role, the less crime there will be in our communities. We must take ownership and be good stewards of crime prevention. Carefully consider new alternatives or best practices such as Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. Be an advocate for change and suggest utilizing some of these techniques as we have done in Red Deer. The challenge for everyone is to build a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another, because the question is not how well we work alone, but how well we work together.”

Let’s not be complacent, keep the river flowing no matter what!  For those afraid of change and who often follow the path of least resistance, consider this quote by John Welwood: “The most powerful agent of growth and transformation is something much more basic than any technique: a change of heart.”

City Hall Park, Red Deer, Alberta

An old 1972 classic titled “Concrete Sea” by songwriter/musician Terry Jacks got me thinking about how important color really is in our communities.  In the main verse of his song, Jack’s sings “No one is meant to be living here in a concrete sea”.  If you look around many cities you will understand where his thoughts came from.  This is especially true in many urban downtown areas of our cities, but this is starting to change and that’s encouraging.

City Hall Park in Red Deer, Alberta is a prime example and a popular gathering place throughout the summer months. Think about how you feel and act when you see color and you will appreciate how important it can be in various settings.  As crime prevention practitioners, urban designers, architects and anyone dealing with the built environment, learn to utilize more color. Colorful landscaping arrangements in our green spaces, textured pathways that incorporate color, and murals are only a few great examples of how we can use color to brighten up our lives.

Color psychology as it is often referred to is another valuable tool we can use to help reduce crime and improve quality of life.  Color evokes many memories and mental associations that can drastically alter how we feel.  The various hues can produce the power to recall sounds, smells, textures and other sensations that can comfort, calm, or intimidate.  It’s difficult to predict with any certainty how someone may react to a specific color but there are some basic guidelines that can help us as professionals.  Choosing proper colors can help us create moods that are more “positive” and therefore support safer environments to live, work and play.  Red for example, is considered one of the boldest colors because it demands our visual attention.  However, where this color is used could be very important as it is associated with rage, confrontation, blood, aggression and ferocity. Red is not a good color choice for prisons or hospitals. Orange, my favorite color tends to make people feel rushed, or in a hurry.  Hmm, that explains a few things!  People tend to feel that blue is clean, crisp and airy like a cloudless sky.  Blue is a color for relaxation, it lowers the heart, pulse and breathing rates and has a cooling effect.

We interact with others in private and public space on a daily basis.  It makes sense then that we understand more about color.  This is another great tool for all you crime prevention practitioners out there.  Alright, I surrender, according to Carol Ritberger I’m considered a “green” personality.  She points out that “Greens live in a world of hopes, dreams, and emotions where the intangibles of life are the most important.  Their rich imaginations thrive when using their creative abilities – their minds work quickly, bouncing from one thought to another.  Greens think in metaphors and analogies, painting vivid pictures in their minds; greens see life from a holistic perspective that allows them to see the complete picture.  They love creating ideas and exploring possibilities”.  As a Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) consultant I found this interesting.  Ritberger, points our that Greens “focus on what things could be rather than what they are or intended to be. Greens also rely on their hunches and insight to get a real feel for what is happening”.  Most encouraging was that Greens along with many CPTED practitioners are “driven by idealism and the belief that their purpose in life is to make the world a different and better place.  They feel they must influence the quality of life for others”, according to Ritberger.  This takes the whole idea of going green to a new level.  Smile!  What color is your personality?

Webster’s dictionary defines “Community” as an interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location.  Interacting with our neighbors and striving for more cohesion among residents helps build strong communities.  Today, we are more isolated, working more and more and socializing less and less.  How many of us know our surrounding neighbors, especially if we reside in condos or apartments.  It often seems like we are more interested in keeping up with the Jones’s rather than socializing with them.  This brings us to another important question, our quality of life. The CPTED concept, coined by criminologist C. Ray Jeffery supports the idea that the proper design and effective use of the built environment can lead to a reduction in the fear and incidence of crime and to an improvement in the quality of life.

Increasing our social capital will help build strong communities.  We are generally fixated on the importance of financial capital while socially we struggle with various issues ranging from addictions and various forms of abuse to homelessness.  So what is social capital, really? Mark Anielski is an ecological economist who believes that Social Capital means quality and strength of our relations in community: trust, honesty, common values, including tolerance. In his book titled “The Economics of Happiness” – Building Genuine Wealth he goes on to explain that ” a genuinely wealthy community is one which has articulated its values and lives life accordingly.  Such communities work in spirit of collective and shared responsibility or stewardship to ensure that the various conditions of well-being that add to quality of life are flourishing, vibrant, life-giving and sustainable for current and future generations.”

We are starting to see quite a paradigm shift in how we build stronger communities.  The most exciting aspect of this development has been gaining more momentum over the past few years.  A prime example is the ABC Emmy Award winning television series Extreme Makeover: Home Addition where deserving families are provided with major home renovations. With numerous sponsors such as Ford Motor Company and local builders they are building a better community.  There are good examples of corporate citizens and community volunteers right in our own backyard. Laebon Homes recently adopted a new corporate slogan – The Spirit of Community. More and more businesses are becoming socially engaged in the communities they serve.  Working in the Cooperative Retailing System (CRS) for over 10 years provided a solid foundation for me.  You see, Cooperatives around the world generally operate according to 7 core principles and values.  Principle # 7 - Concern for Community states that while focusing on member needs, cooperatives work for the sustainable development of communities through policies and programs accepted by the members.  Red Deer Co-op supports these principles and is another good example of a corporate community builder.

Are we on the right track … absolutely, and it’s exciting to see!  As more of us continue to see the great potential in giving back to our communities and sharing resources we begin to create a powerful process of transformation.  Maintaining that spirit and concern for community builds something even stronger, it builds precious communities that become legacies for future generations.