Decision-makers play with crime policies like they are shuffling a deck of causation cards, devoid of practical solutions, loaded with ideology.
The truth is more prisons and more police will not solve crime. Prevention has most impact within neighbourhoods, not across a whole region or province. In short, crime is best tackled by harnessing the creativity of neighbourhood dwellers and functional neighbourhood groups. For this we need to renew interest in civic affairs and build social capital.
To do this I created a neighbourhood planning method called SafeGrowth from early work in CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design). It began in 2000 with the San Romanoway apartment revitalization in Toronto’s high crime Jane/Finch corridor (http://www.e-doca.eu/content/docs/SafeGrowth7.pdf).
SafeGrowth merges urban design with social development and civic empowerment. It creates walkable streets and interesting public spaces because the public realm is where neighbourhood life happens and where social capital begins.
There are four steps: creating a neighbourhood non-profit; collecting/diagnosing data; a seat at relevant decision-making tables; and an action plan with clear safety metrics. Saskatoon has instituted an approach similar to SafeGrowth – Local Area Planning. To sustain momentum, each year they run collaborative SafeGrowth trainings with police, city staff and service providers. (http://umanitoba.ca/architecture/cp/Media/CiP2008/QuincyBrown.pd)
In US cities SafeGrowth is partnered with the community safety initiative group at the non-profit Local Initiative Support Corporation (http://www.lisc.org/content/publications/detail/8184)
Another non-profit group applying SafeGrowth is AARP in New Orleans. Louisiana AARP tapped into work already underway in a poor, high crime neighbourhood – Hollygrove. Adding to already existing crime problems, a quarter of Hollygrove’s population never returned after Katrina leaving abandoned homes and blight.
SafeGrowth workshops helped mobilize residents and transfer skills. A new walking club humanizes streets. Night Out Against Crime events are bigger than ever. Much needed access fences were installed and residents recently celebrated removal of a drug house, unthinkable a few years ago.
Some residents clean their own streets and install makeshift streetlights when the city doesn’t. Resident groups, such as the Hollygrove “Originals”, now raise funds for social programs. Crime is down. Social cohesion is on the rise. (http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/livable-communities/info-08-2010/a_comeback_story_in_new_orleans.html)
For more information on integrated neighbourhood planning and the SafeGrowth method visit safe-growth.blogspot.com
