CRIME PREVENTION AND THE BUILT

ENVIRONMENT IN TANZANIA

ByLudigija Boniface Bulamile,

Lecturer, Department of Architecture,University College of Lands and

Architectural StudiesDar Es Salaam, Tanzania

KEY WORDS

• Crime• Crime Prevention: Strategies• Safety• Security• Urban morphology: Form, Urban

Spaces• Architecture : Character

BACKGROUND

Having lived in Dar Es Salaam for a long time (1974 – 2004), I have witnessed the following:

• Increased population of Dar Es Salaam;

• Increased poverty among city residents;

• Reduced social interactions and socialization among neighbors in neighborhoods;

• Increased building activities,

BACKGROUND CONTINUED

• Growth of Dar Es Salaam into biggest of the cities of Tanzania;

• Growth of employment opportunities in Dar Es Salaam;

• Death and privatization of Public Companies, thus loss of job opportunities to many;

• Hence, increased unemployment.

CONSEQUENCES OF THESE

• Increased poverty among many city residents;

• Increased crime rate ( to 43%) ;• Increased fear of crime (61%);• Emergency of high class neighborhoods

and low class neighborhoods;• Thus emergency and rampant used of

protection means of properties/houses;• Emergency of private security companies. • Reduced social interactions and

socialization among neighbors in neighborhoods;

CONSEQUENCES OF CRIME INCREASE

CONSEQUENCES OF CRIME INCREASE

Another Example

CAUSES OF CRIME

• Social Causes as occasioned by social exclusion due marginalization,

- Unemployment,

- Illiteracy,

- Lack of family integration (parental authority),

- Domestic violence;

Institutional Causes

- Police placing emphasis on major crimes and distancing themselves from ordinary police patrols

- Justice system is slow and ill-suited to developing urban conflicts, overloaded and uses outdated working methodologies;

• Physical Environmental Causes:- Poor urban design and management

of urbanization process;- Inadequate urban services;

Causes of Crime Cont’d

• Physical causes Cont’d: - Failure to incorporate security related issues

in urban management policies and training curricula;

- Apparition of poorly protected semi-public spaces;

- Promiscuity and lawlessness of certain districts leading to development of zones of lawlessness (Mtani A. 2001)

Consequences of Crime

• The feeling of insecurity to urban population,• Threat to democratic foundation of

communities, • Abandonment of neighborhoods,• Development of “architecture of fear”• Stigmatization of districts / communities,• Withdrawal / refusal to invest in some cities /

areas.• Increased cost of insecurity and emergency

of private security companies.

STRATEGIES FOR CRIME REDUCTION

• Increased policing;

• Severe punishment of criminals;

• Social and educational Programs

• Programs for poverty alleviation

• Design of buildings, Streets, parks and other public places (wekerle and Whitzman,1995: 12)

CPTED

• Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design has become a well-known concept for the design and management of urban space to reduce the incidence and fear of crime (Wekerle and Whitzman, 1995:12)

THE CPTED’S SIX ENVIRONMENTA STRATEGIES • Natural Access Control;

• Natural Surveillance,

• Creating a sense of territoriality,

• Management strategies,

• Maintenance upkeep,

• Legitimate activity support

Example

• A security guard or concierge station located and configured to permit effective natural surveillance of stairs and entrance (Adapted from Randall Atlas 2004).

The Two opposed approaches to CPTED

I. “Situational Crime Prevention” which is divided into three approaches’

• - increasing the effort required to commit crime,

• - increasing the risk associated with crime,

• - reducing the rewards of crime and removing the excuses for criminal behavior (Randall 1999:8

The Two opposed approaches to CPTED cont’d

II. The second approach is based on the idea of planning a city or neighborhood so that people are present in communal and public spaces around the clock. With the determining factor for design being to avoid dark, unseen spaces and adapting a grid street structure rather than tree-like street structure.

RESEARCH ISSUES

• The defensible space studies by Oscar Newman and Coleman were based on public mass housing and not on individual housing development by private individuals. Thus “CPTED is seen as a special tactic to fix public housing or urban infill designs”.

• The above (i.e., Public housing) is not common in Tanzania. Most housing is developed by individuals with money from savings.

Research Issues cont’d

• It is therefore important to study “how fear of crime creates a physical environment” and pros and cons of the environment created, by looking at the architecture and urban spaces, in terms of security and socialization. What happens in the streets??

• It may also be of importance to study and compare the cost of fear of crime with the cost of housing construction in the context of Tanzania.

Aims of the Research

• To document the present tendency towards “Situational Crime Prevention Strategies or target hardening” in Dar Es Salaam and to what extent this goes against the other approaches to reduce crime by environmental design.

• To explore to what extent current CPTED theories are applicable in the Tanzania context.

Aims of the Research Cont’d

• To investigate the impact of Crime prevention Strategies to the morphology of the built environment in terms of architecture, urban form / neighborhood form, urban spaces, the cost of security and social spaces.

RESEARCH METHODS

• It is proposed that the research shall use “Case Study Method”. Cases shall be selected in accordance with the amount of critical information (incidences of crime) available. Comparative studies between high and low crime areas will be made to establish the factors influencing the physical urban form.

Tools of Research

• Tools of analysis and data collection like: photography, GIS, and interviews will be used.

CLOSING PRELUDE

• THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO ME AND WELCOME FOR YOUR ADVICE AND COMMENTS TO SHAPE MY TOPIC OF RESEARCH.