Designing Out Crime

As mentioned in a previous blog, it is possible to design out crime. This can be done by either adapting an existing area to reduce crime levels, or by designing a new area (such as a new housing estate) to make it crime-proof.

Reducing crime in current areas can be done by: designing areas and houses to make it more difficult for crimes to be committed (this is also known as target hardening - adding barbed wire fences, security patrolling an area, adding double glazing to a house and having double locks and security chains on doors). Warnings and alarms can also be added so people can be more aware of when crimes are being committed and as such, people are more vigilant. One final way of reducing crime levels is by tracking goods and people after a crime has been committed (for example GPS trackers in laptops and phones). It is also possible to talk to your local neighbourhood watch group about ways of helping to reduce crime.

The picture below illustrates some of the ways designers design out crime in a new area…

The houses overlooking the open space increases the amount of area which can be monitored for crime. The open space with footpaths allows everyone to keep an eye on suspicious behaviour. Underpasses are problematic for crime reduction as it provides a blind spot for crime to occur in. Finally, the cul-de-sac, as seen on the diagram above, makes it easy to notice someone who is not known to the area and who is not supposed to be there.

The video below shows a case study which could be used in the classroom…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/designing-out-crime/1137.html

Students could use google maps to find local examples of where crime has been designed out of an area - by looking for cul-de-sacs, open parks etc.

References

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/geography/spaces/crime/revision/5/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/designing-out-crime/1137.html

http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/challenges/security/design-out-crime/

The Location and Mapping of Crime

As mentioned previously, the location of crime is important in understanding why crime occurs. Things such as large population (meaning greater opportunity), good road and transport links (easier to move around) and public spaces which don’t ‘belong’ to anyone are all likely to increase rate of crime. Criminals are more likely to commit crimes in areas which they know well, can easily hide and escape from and in places where there is greater opportunity for crime.

This video is really good for explaining mapping of crime…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/mapping-crime-geographical-profiling/1128.html

At the end of the video it talks about designing out crime, which I will go into in my next blog post.

The London riots of 2011 are a great example of people committing crime because there was the opportunity and the knowledge that because of the scale of the riots, the law was not being enforced to the same degree. The map below (from BBC Bitesize) details where the London rioters originated from. The map is really interesting and shows how social media and technology meant that people in other parts of the UK got involved. As can been seen from the map, in the first couple of days of the riots, it was just locals involved, but by the third day people with direct links to London were rioting and by the fourth day people from all over the country were rioting.

Whenever a crime is reported, it can be plotted onto a map. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) has made it easier to combine information onto a map and as such we can see the spatial patterns. The mapping of crime is a fascinating concept. On the website http://www.police.uk/ it is possible to see all the crimes logged in any one mile radius of a given post code… with the break-down of how they were classified. To be honest, I’m not sure I’d want the students looking at the areas they live in, as it may spark a rivalry between students and where they live. I think it may well be better to find a few examples which show the sort of distributions we can talk about - possibly even look at big cities, versus small villages?

It is important to also have a look at how crime affects the local communities. I have mentioned before about circles of decline in MEDCs and LEDCs, but crime also has a role to play in declining areas. Communities are affected with declining housing prices if an area is known to be a crime hotspot, they may also have to pay higher insurance premiums, as well as being fearful of going out alone in the dark. The local services become strained as they struggle to cope with the number of people in local prisons and the number of people affected physically by crime needing help from the local health service. Shops may no longer stock certain items for fear of shoplifting and the council will need to spend more money on ensuring peoples safety (CCTV and Street lighting) and less on other things (such as education).

  

References

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/geography/spaces/crime/revision/3/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/mapping-crime-geographical-profiling/1128.html

http://www.police.uk/

The Classification of Crime

The final section of the ‘Settlement’ topic is the ‘Geography of Crime’. According to the English dictionary, a crime is an act prohibited and punished by law, or a collection of unlawful acts. Whenever a crime happens it has a time, location and a reason, hence Geography is important when studying crime as it helps understand any patterns. By understanding the patterns to crime it is possible to see where crimes are most likely to be committed in the future. As such, it is possible to combat crime with more policing in high risk areas, adapting old buildings to be crime-proof and designing new estates in ways which reduce crime.

Crime is classified into one of the following categories: crime against the person, sexual offence, robbery, burglary, offence against vehicles, other theft, fraud or forgery, criminal damage, drug offences, or ‘other’ - for anything which doesn’t fit into the previous categories. Crime does not only happen on a local or national scale, it can also happen on an international scale.

This topic in teaching…

This would be a really good discussion topic - asking students to discuss what they think the definition of a crime is and getting the students to feedback to the group. There are a lot of news articles on the BBC, or other news websites, which could be used as resources. After explaining the different types of crimes, students could be given a news article per pair and have to work out which type of classification of crime the news article is relating to. These news articles could either be discussed as a group after the students have decided on what their article is referring to, or students could swap articles until each pair has discussed 5 or 6 different articles.

References

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/geography/spaces/crime/revision/1/

Crozier et al (eds), 2008. Collins English Dictionary. Glasgow: HarperCollins.

http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/the-geography-of-crime-6141222/

Urban Branding

Branding is the associations that a person (or people in general) makes with a company, organisation, product, service or individual. Coca Cola is one of the biggest brands in the world - very few people would fail to recognise the red and white logo or the shape of their glass bottles. Branding is really important - just last month Marks and Spencer hired Dame Helen Mirren along with several other famous women to lead their new ad campaign, in an attempt to boost their brand.

While it is obvious for companies that a strong positive brand should bring in sales, the same is said for cities. City branding refers to the changes made and the promotions that turn a city, from a location, into a destination. It will make a city somewhere where people want to visit, work and live. With cities no longer just competing for attention with towns down the road, it is important their brand is strong to attract people from all over the world.

Many urban areas will go through a stage of re-branding to try and alter people’s perceptions of a city or town. This could be environmental (improving building quality), social (reducing poverty), economic (increase job opportunities) or political (successfully bidding for grants). One example is Manchester, which in 1991 embarked on a major rebranding exercise. It aimed to portray the city as lively, cosmopolitan, dynamic and culturally enlivened and was accompanied by visual images presenting Manchester as energetic, innovative and culturally sophisticated. The new brand also came with the slogan “The Life and Soul of Britain”. The regeneration and rebranding was pushed again after the 1996 Manchester IRA bombing, in an attempt to bring people back into the city. With thanks to the 2002 Commonwealth games, which were hosted in Manchester, the city is now known as being a city of sport. Not only are there two football stadiums, the National Squash Centre and the Manchester Aquatics Centre, the National Cycling Centre is also based in Manchester, which is home to British Cycling (who train up Team GB hopefuls). 

References

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2008/oct/01/city.urban.branding

http://www.retail-week.com/in-business/marketing/marks-and-spencer-hires-dame-helen-mirren-to-lead-all-star-ad-campaign/5052215.article

http://www.placebrands.net/reading/citybranding.html

http://www.geography-fieldwork.org/urbanfieldwork/urban_rebranding/stage1.htm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/42/2002_Commonwealth_Games_logo.svg/175px-2002_Commonwealth_Games_logo.svg.png

http://www1.imp.unisg.ch/org/idt/ipmr.nsf/0/7e675f0a71bd4d16c1256e0400524fa5/$FILE/IPMR_4_2_THE%20REBRANDING%20OF%20CITY%20PLACES.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester#Geography

Urban Design

Urban design is the process of designing functional, attractive and sustainable urban areas. Urban design focuses on large scale groups of houses, streets, whole neighbourhoods and even entire cities, rather than singular buildings as architecture does.

The main objectives for urban design:

• Character - to build places with identity by reinforcing local patterns of development and culture.
• Continuity and enclosure - public and private spaces need to have clear boundaries to make harmonious living easy.
• Quality of the public realm - there must be attractive and safe outdoor areas, which can be successfully used by everyone.
• Ease of movement - places which are easy to move through. This includes the streets. Spatial analysis software can be used to analyse how people would move through proposed city plans.
• Legibility - places need to have a clear image and routes that are easy to understand. This can be made easier by having landmarks which aid people in finding their way around.
• Adaptability - places need designs that can adapt to changing social, technological and economic conditions.
• Diversity - places which promote diversity and choice, with a range of housing types and price.

Urban design dates back even as far as the Roman times when Vitruvius (thought to be the first architectural historian), created a blue print for an ideal city. Vitruvius created a circular design to promote harmony. Other designs are born out of idealism, such as the 16^th Century Utopia design by Thomas More. Some designs however, were created to display wealth and power.

As wonderful as many plans are, it is rare to be able to make a city from scratch. When the Great Fire of London burnt down the city, it was seen as a fresh start. Wren, Hook and Evelyn all created plans for a complete rebuild of London. Wren based his rebuild on various sources including Vitruvius and Parisian design; Hook created a grid plan layout with blocks and Evelyn based his plans on a radial grid.  In the end though, it was decided that instead of using any of the fantastic and elaborate plans which were put forward, it would be up to the people to rebuild their own plots. This decision was based upon the fact that London, in this time of disaster, could not afford the time or the money to rebuild the city completely from scratch. The money could be raised, but it was ultimately that in the time it would take to rebuild the city, business would be drawn elsewhere and if the business did return, moving may be confusing due to the rebuild.

In 2007 Gordon Brown announced his plans for tackling climate change and solving the housing crisis - designing Eco towns. Eco towns were billed as being: affordable housing, sustainable living, carbon neutral developments, a creative use of waste and high rates of recycling, employment which is local, as well as local services and schools so that there is less demand for using cars. Finally the locals must also be able to have a say in the development. Whitehill, Bordon is one of the four Eco towns announced in 2009. Despite an unclear future in 2010 when the new government came into force, in January 2013 the MOD land (brownfield site) was purchased and building work is expected to start in 2014, with the finished 100 homes completed by the end of 2015.

References

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0394j6q/Dreaming_the_Impossible_Unbuilt_Britain_A_Revolution_in_the_City/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/urban_environments/urbanisation_medcs_rev8.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-20911094

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118095356/http:/www.cabe.org.uk/files/urban-design-skills-working-group.pdf

Notting Hill

Notting Hill is one of the most famous examples of gentrification. In a BBC article from last year, it was argued that Portobello Road (in Notting Hill) is the UK’s most gentrified street. Looking at the bustling urban area with grand houses and the occasional blue front door as it is today, it is hard to believe Notting Hill used to be one of the worst slums in London.

In the mid-eighteenth century Notting Hill was a hamlet known for its gravel pits and roadside inns. Urbanisation, in the form of industrialisation, brought workers from the countryside and as such, landlords built tiny terraced houses to supply demand and rent to the poor. During the Victorian times the area was a rough, working class area. The 1950s was when it hit the all-time low for deprivation and slums.

The abolition of rent control in 1957 triggered the start of gentrification in Notting Hill. Many landlords bullied their tenants into leaving, so they could cash in on the lucrative housing market. Since then (and particularly in the more recent decades) gentrification has been on the up, as have the house prices. However, it’s not completely unaffordable housing. In an attempt to re-enforce the diversity of the Notting Hill neighbourhood and to maintain controlled rents and ensure some housing remains affordable, Housing Associations have kept a strong hold.

The movie “Notting Hill” with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts helped to popularise the area with people around the globe. This tempted movie stars, singers, fashion designers and media types to the area further gentrifying it (or as the BBC put in their article - Super Gentrifying it). Both bench scenes in the movie show off Notting Hill’s secluded communal gardens better than any estate agent could. The gardens, which are sandwiched between the rows of houses, are, as Hugh Grant’s character in the movie points out, barely visible from the street. These gardens make the area very popular with families. 

Within Notting Hill is the world’s most famous market - Portobello Road. Since 1837 the market (technically several markets one after another) has sold just about anything you could wish to buy. In the 1971 film ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ the characters visit Portobello Road in an attempt to find the other half of a spell-book. Along the way, the characters discover what Portobello Road is all about - below is a video clip of the Portobello Road scene. It is 10 minutes long… but from about half way through it is just dancing!!!

The topic in teaching…

The film Notting Hill is rated 15… and some of the key scenes for showing off the geography of Notting Hill have some choice language, so wouldn’t be something I’d show (there are only a few really good scenes for geographical use anyway!!). The scene about Portobello Road from ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ however is a classic and would be really good to introduce the topic and also to show the difference between before and after gentrification.

References 

http://brooksbankgeographyyr13.wikispaces.com/Case+Study+-+Gentrification

http://www.ipglobal-ltd.com/investor-centre/investment-newsletter/regeneration-and-gentrification-in-london.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18394017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYBECKl0zFo

http://www.suitcasemag.com/post/cinematic-hotspots-notting-hill--547/

http://hookedonhouses.net/2009/09/13/notting-hill-hugh-grants-house-with-the-blue-door/

Change and Regeneration

The majority of changes in urban areas are due to urbanisation. Urbanisation means an increase in percentage of the population living in urban areas (rather than rural areas). This is caused partly by more people being born in urban areas than rural, but mostly because of rural-urban migration. Congestion, lack of space and pollution are real problems caused by an increased number of people living in urban areas. Several changes have occurred in recent years to help reduce the problems.

First: Congestion. Many of the UKs largest cities were built hundreds of years ago and as such were not designed to withstand the number of cars which drive through our streets on a daily basis (particularly during rush hour). Many cities have implemented the generic go-to systems of Park and Ride schemes, pedestrianisation and improving public transport. London however, has gone many steps further. In February 2003 the congestion charge was introduced into central London. Using number plate recognition technologies, cars were monitored against the database of people who have paid to enter the congestion zone. The charge (currently £10 a day) is set to deter people from entering the city and the money collected is invested into improving public transport. Another major change was introducing the Barclays Bike Scheme, where people can borrow bikes for a minimal cost, for short journeys around the city. Bike lanes have also been added to reduce the number of accidents involving cyclists. To coincide with the Olympics in 2012, a number of underground lines were extended, or improved, to allow greater access and fewer delays getting into and around London.

The second problem is lack of space. The only real solution is to build upwards and to use space economically.

Pollution is the third issue mentioned above. This air pollution, or smog, affects most major cities and is seen as a haze (particularly noted to be seen in Los Angeles). The methods used to reduce congestion will also reduce pollution because fewer motor vehicles are in the CBD to produce the pollution. Other changes which can be made to reduce pollution include: banning heavy goods vehicles from CBDs altogether, providing more bins (including recycling bins) to reduce litter within the CBD and also developing cleaner fuels.

Other issues in need of change in Urban areas include, overcrowding, poor-quality housing as well as lack of open space. Many of these issues are improved during regeneration projects. Various regeneration projects have been mentioned throughout my blog - in the Urban Structure of MEDCs blog post I mentioned gentrification and gave Clarendon Park as an example. Gentrification is just one of many forms of urban regeneration. The table below details some of the other ways in which urban areas change…

The topic in teaching…

There are plenty of case studies about regeneration (I’ll look into Notting Hill in my next blog post). Below is a really good link from the Royal Geographical Society on the urban regeneration of east London. This could be used as a basis for a lesson, or even the basic information given to students, before they are set off to collect more information on east London’s regeneration, to present back to the class.

http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/7F628840-98F9-4E52-9BFD-E4CBBDAF1EEB/0/KS3_FactSheet_EastEndregeneration_2.pdf

References

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/urban_environments/urbanisation_medcs_rev1.shtml

http://greenfieldgeography.wikispaces.com/IGCSE+Settlements+and+GCSE+Settlements

http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/7F628840-98F9-4E52-9BFD-E4CBBDAF1EEB/0/KS3_FactSheet_EastEndregeneration_2.pdf

http://www.s-cool.co.uk/gcse/geography/settlements/revise-it/urbanisation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge