NCJ Number
222077
Editor(s)
Tim Lukas
Date Published
2007
Length
132 pages
Annotation
Four papers examine data obtained from a study called the Crime Prevention Carousel, which is investigating the architectural and environmental factors that foster and prevent crime in high-rise housing in five urban European cities: Berlin, Germany; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Krakow, Poland; Budapest, Hungary; and Bristol, England.
Abstract
The overall conclusion from the study is that a proper architectural and environmental design alone does not provide a panacea for addressing residential crime and insecurity in high-rise housing. Crime prevention is most likely to occur in high-rise housing when architectural and environmental design is part of a comprehensive strategic approach that incorporates a wide range of physical, managerial, and social schemes. The four papers in this publication interpret and draw implications from the study's data obtained from a resident survey conducted in four of the five cities (Berlin, Bristol, Budapest, and Krakow). The survey featured a comprehensive questionnaire that addressed a wide range of issues relating to the socio-spatial situation of high-rise housing, an appraisal of insecurities and the general quality of life in high-rise housing, and incidents of respondents' criminal victimization in their high-rise buildings. A significant part of the questionnaire focused on residents' estimation of social change in their neighborhoods. In discussing the survey's findings, the four papers discuss the effectiveness of security schemes in high-rise housing in the area of tension between exclusion and inclusion, the various levels of social cohesion among high-rise housing residents, various levels of victimization in the study areas and the victim services available in the countries, and recent offense trends in the cities' high-rise housing. Chapter tables and references