Can Sound Urban Planning Help Reduce Urban Crime and Violence?
by Mitchell J. Rycus Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, USA. Historically, people built walls to secure their cities against outsiders who might rob the citizens, or worse, slaughter them. As cities grew, maintaining the walls and gates became impractical, and as technology advanced, walls offered little in the way of protection. As growth occurred, the poor areas that were once outside the walls were absorbed by the city, and the residents of those poorer communities were displaced. But without the gates and the walls something had to be done to keep those believed to be most likely to commit street crime away. It was the concern for crime prevention that led to the formalization of public welfare institutions in the West<1>. The “City Beautiful” movement<2> at the end of the last century was also based, in part, upon the belief that if people had a more pleasant physical environment, they would be less inclined to commit criminal acts. But parks, broad bouleva
