Environmental security planning : an application to the Longwood Medical Area

Abstract

The thesis is a study of the security problems due to street crime in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston. The first part of the thesis defines the theories and practices of environmental security .planning, the urban design synoptic approach to crime prevention. The environment is examined in its totality -- the physical, social, economic, and psychological characteristics, all of which are considered. The synoptic approach incorporates some of the traditional forms of crime prevention: the punitive (minimally), corrective and mechanical approaches with emphasis on the spatial perspective and the utilization of physical design strategies to deter crime. A "crime analysis model" is developed which focuses on five components: the offender, the journey to crime, the target, natural surveillance and organized surveillance. The second part is the case study of the Longwood Medical Area (LMA) for which the crime analysis model forms the structure. The currently practiced monolithic approach to crime prevention which primarily restricts itself to the utilization of organized surveillance (private security guards) and limits itself to the defined geographical boundaries of the LMA is examined. This monlithic approach is aggravated by the lack of inter-institutional-community tensions all of which result in an unsatisfactory security planning strategy. The main recommendation of the thesis focuses on a basic conceptual change to a synoptic approach in the security planning of the Longwood Medical Area. A number of recommendations applying to specific situations are given.