Varför stadsmiljön spelar roll? En intervju med Paul van Soomeren – expert inom CPTED
Could you briefly introduce yourself?
I am and urban planner that somehow ended up in criminology. This explains my fascination with the question how we may prevent crime and feelings of insecurity by implementing measures from urban design, architecture, urban planning and regular urban management. Design our future environments to make them safe, secure, sustainable and inclusive and maintain what is good and what is already there. I am doing that work in The Netherlands but also worldwide as one of the directors of the International CPTED Association (https://www.cpted.net/)
What inspired you to focus on the role of the environment in crime prevention?
Well as an urban planner that started working in the Dutch ministries of justice and interior working on early crime prevention almost 50 years ago… That sparked my interest in environmental approaches that helped to tackle the wave of crime that then happened in The Netherland and my home town Amsterdam. My house was burled, my bike was stolen nearly once a year! As a planner you know that the environment – buildings, neighborhoods, cities – influences behavior. Good and bad. So changing that environment works. And in the decades after I started in the ministry and later co-founded DSP, research on effective approaches proofed that environmental crime prevention works. Burglary went down from 120,000 to 20.000 now (see for example Article 1 below). And my bike was not stolen the last 15 years. In more and more cases there is now hard evidence that CPTED works. Evidence based!
What are some of the most significant recent developments at the European level regarding CPTED and standards?
There is now a set of European standards on CPTED. The last one is CEN/TS 14383-2:2022. Type in this weird standard numbering and you’ll order a standard ready for use in one download click. (though there is a prize for each standard; don’t blame me for neo liberalism). There is actually a whole series of CEN standards on CPTED (the 14383 series) and worldwide there is ISO 22341:2021 on CPTED
Why do you believe having standards in this area is important?
As a planner you know that you are standing on the shoulders of centuries of predecessors. Building and planning is learning by doing. But even more learning from earlier planners and designers. It is all about solidified learning experiences. We learned over the ages to build better houses, better cities. Safer and more secure. Standards are solidified learning experiences. Luckily designers, planners – the ‘shapers’ of our environments – learn from ages of experience. But these experience must be recorded somehow, over the years, perhaps even over the centuries. Here standards appear on the stage. Established knowledge on which there is consensus: this and that works. In managing fire – cities are nor completely burning to the ground. Also in health – water, sewage, planning and design were game changers here too. In traffic safety and ….. in crime prevention
You’ve been involved in the CEN standards work for some time now. Why do you think these standards are important, and what is the current status of this work at the European level?
Standards are not only solidified learning experiences made in consensus on what works best. Standards are also important instruments. A bit like laws. As a designer – a shaper – you use a lot of standards, on fire protection, building and construction safety etc. Standards are vital instrument for designers. We hate them because standards force us to do – or not do – something. But at the same time we love standards because it is tacit knowledge, solidified experience captured in an easy downloadable text.
Which three countries do you think are doing well in this area?
Scandinavia used to be number one. I remember working with Brå and Boverket… Learned a lot from you girls and guys! But somehow Scandinavia seem to have lost interest in the last few decades. Germany and Netherlands are pretty effective and most interesting are South and Middle American countries. Their fight against violence – which is really endemic over there – is interesting and they use CPTED approaches and measures …. and standards like the ISO 22341:2021 (which grew from early European CPTED standards by the way). India, Asia and countries down under are interesting too. New approaches appear in these huge countries that are often plagued by discrimination of women. Violence, harassment cities and environments should be safe for everyone, men, women, LGBTQI …. It is PUBLIC space and that’s space that is public for everyone. Without public space democracy may deteriorate.
What do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges for CPTED and standards in the future of urban planning?
In the real physical/social world we now know after a few decades pretty well what we have to do – our should not do – in crime prevention. We know that thorough processes work: first scan and analyze together with all stakeholders what is the crime or fear problem, then – together again – plan for measures that have shown – evidence based – what is effective, act/implement and evaluate the measures and crime prevention approaches chosen to learn to do it even better next time. See e.g. “The book of Basics’ for that and almost 1000 “Peral of (crime prevention) knowledge. (https://prohic.nl/?lang=en)
But a few years ago a new world was born: the virtual/digital world. On- and offline are almost one and thus new crimes appeared: hate speech, cybercrime, phishing, ransomware, doxing malware …. The same principles seem to be working here but it is a new world with new crimes. I guess we have to figure out how we may use the CPTED principles in this new virtual world. It is a new vast open domain. A huge challenge!
What advice would you give to students or recent graduates interested in CPTED and standards? Are there any specific skills or areas of knowledge you think they should focus on?
Changing the environment is great work. And now the new kids on the block have a physical/technical and social world to act in, but also a virtual digital world. These world, these environments, should be safe and secure. For everyone, night and day. A nice challenge.
Further reading:
Paul van Soomeren is expert in Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED). Paul works for the Dutch research and consultancy bureau DSP in Amsterdam and he is the chair of a European (CEN) working group making standards on CPTED. Paul is an urban planner/demographer and social geographer by education.
