Summary

This project dealt with various aspects of crime and anti-social behaviour with the crime ‘climate' varying significantly from member country to member country. It was managed by BRE and led by a representative Steering Group with some partners being fully involved with the research, implementation and evaluation of the process and others who provided expert input via a series of Steering Group meetings and workshops. The representatives who formed the Steering Group and the countries they represent are listed on the title page.

There were two main aims of this project: firstly to undertake research in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) practice supported by partnership working; and secondly, based on the outcome of the research, to develop tools and multi-disciplinary strategies between police and other partners to reduce crime, fear of crime and anti-social behaviour within specified urban areas.

The output provides an evaluated overview of European practices focusing on exemplars formed into a draft toolkit. The methodology included:

• overview of CPTED practice in Europe

• literature review

• identification of approaches from existing ideas providing evidence of how they worked and dissemination of information to the group

• short-listing of approaches approved by the Steering Group and then applied in the field

• selection of innovative approaches and validation that they worked by field research

• expert appraisal by the Group

• forming them into best practice user-friendly models

• refining and piloting them in the field

• formation of a toolkit for dissemination across Europe.

Quickly identified was the wide-ranging level of basic awareness and implementation of CPTED practices amongst the participating countries. In some countries crime reduction measures have, or are about to become, part of the planning and building regulations, for example Netherlands and the UK, whereas some other partner countries were just becoming aware of the way some changes in society and speculative development could quickly lead to increases in opportunistic crime, for example Estonia and Poland.