Design Against Crime
Design Case Studies
Design Against Crime (DAC) is a national programme of research and policy initiatives undertaken by the Design Council and their project partners, Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Salford, and supported by the Home Office and DTI. It aims to further increase the understanding of DAC issues and embed crime prevention within design through education and professional practice. The programme offers new ideas and approaches for design professionals, industry, commerce and educators at school and degree level.
The four main projects include:
Exemplars – case studies documenting best practice
Teaching – embedding DAC in the national curriculum
Design Challenge Scheme – promoting DAC in higher education
Professional Development Initiative – empowering designers to design against crime
Researchers on the DAC programme have looked at examples of good practice in design which tackle crime issues. Research took place in the UK, USA, Scandinavia and South Korea and covers all design disciplines. The Design Council published twenty of these case studies in June 2002 to coincide with the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) Conference, Partners Against Crime, which explored the basis of companies’ responsibility to address crime.
Case studies cover a wide variety of products and environments including: bus shelters, alleygating, housing, tamper proof containers, seating, car parks and others. Amongst those already known to Architectural Liaison Officers are the Royds Community Association Secured by Design development in Bradford, Alleygating in Liverpool, Parksafe multi-storey car park in Derby, the Wendover Public House, Big Issue offices in Manchester and other social housing/park projects in Manchester. It is anticipated that by demonstrating how good design can prevent crime, it will inspire others to design against crime.
The case studies can be found at www.design-council.org.uk.
Also new, is the DAC website which includes advice and resources for the education sector (schools and higher education), for professionals (business and designers) and links to publications and other resources. Details of the Secure Urban Environments by Design project, led by the Design Policy Partnership at the University of Salford, are also given. This project builds on the work of Design Against Crime and is funded through the European Commission’s Hippokrates programme. It runs from November 2001 to October 2002 and involves partners from Greece, Sweden and Germany.
The Design Against Crime website can be found at www.designagainstcrime.org
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