Can Planning Help?
Why do some people neglect to maintain their property? Why do they sometimes not even keep it clean? Is it possible that there is at least some observable relationship between planned space and crime? These are questions that led a team of architects and behavioral scientists in 1972 to study the physical layout of buildings as related to behavior.
The study beg~n in St. Louis in order to try to determine why tenants allowed large, high-rise, low-rent apartment buildings to deteriorate, leading to vandalism and destruction. Although built at great public cost, these government-subsidized living units soon became slums. Some were even abandoned by their residents. The study was extended to include some failures of public housing projects in Philadelphia and New York City.
It was found that people tend to keep their own apartments in a housing unit in relatively good order and to maintain adjacent hallways which they feel are "theirs" fairly clean. As buildings get larger, taller, and more anonymous, they become neglected by the tenants. Lobbies, laundries, and mail rooms become stripped; excrement is often found in public hallways. The study also clarified the relationship between planned space and crime. For example, it was found that in public housing areas, high-rise projects had higher crime rates than those in some immediately adjacent projects which had similar patterns and types of tenants. A fourteen-story apartment had four times the number of crimes as did a two-story building in the same block.
As buildings get larger and taller. they become more anonymous, providing what researchers called "less defensible space. Angled corridors, blind public areas, and hidden places encourage crime. Empty staircases, required by fire regulations, provide criminals with alternate routes of escape. Designs of most projects in the past have included stylish interiors protected from sight of the outside public:. This arr;Jllgement is prominent in exclusivE', expensive apartment buildings, where privacy has been a major concern. But in public housing such "hidden" design allolVs criminals to operate with little or no observation of their activities. in contrast to the more affiuent living areas ,here are no doormen or other personnel to guard the doorways, kills. and other areas which tenants do not regard as part of their territory. The study found that when more than six families live on a corridor the sense of possessiveness decreases; hallways are considered public territory. Under these conditions, crime flourishes.
On the positive side, the study found some evidence that "feelings of responsibility, pride, and territoriality" can be increased by architectual design of space which provides for more openness to outside observation. Open spaces with public walks, benches, and 6hting facilities not only become social gathering places for residents, but tend to keep away intruders.
Bringing together the many elements that relate to our life styles derscores the need for both individual and soci.al adjustments. We ill take a look at the various aspects of adjustment in the following . apters on personality and adjustment.
