21st Century Security and CPTED, 2nd Edition

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28

Designing Safe Green

Spaces and Parks

The planning and design of parks and recreational spaces are those special areas that communities

use to relax and play. Many park designs encourage a wide range of activities and attract a wide

range of users. Urban designers and landscape architects create green spaces and parks with varied

purposes and, therefore, parks are a study of scale. They range from New York’s Central Park, to

neighborhood parks, to children’s play areas at an apartment building.

When designed well and widely used, parks help create a sense of community. Parks bring people

together and add cultural richness to the community. Parks are a source of recreation, which can cre-

ate great spaces for people to use. As cities undergo renovation and growth, there is a direction to add

open spaces, riverwalk trails, bike trails, skateboard parks, and simple green spaces (see Figure 28.1).

When is a park viewed as safe, fun, and successful? As a Crime Prevention through Environmental

Design (CPTED) practitioner, I often have to evaluate the green spaces and parks that are included in

and around multifamily housing developments and commercial properties. I am often left with many

unanswered questions about park design. For example, many parks experience crime, vandalism, graf-

ti, drug use, and drug dealing. These types of activities are a conict of use and of users. Playgrounds

for infants or small children are often placed in leftover spaces at the end of a site or an apartment

building. Locating swings and sandboxes in an area that has little or no natural surveillance can invite

older kids who may use the play areas inappropriately. One common result I see is play areas or parks

being abandoned or used by undesired persons. When I see parks, green spaces, and play areas in iso-

lated areas, I wonder: what was the developer or architect thinking? Was that design decision because

parks are a non-income-producing real estate and go in the leftover spaces? Was there any consider-

ation of how the parks were going to be used and by whom? (see Figures 28.2 and 28.3).

Another example of incongruent use and users is the park that has a swing set and sandbox adja-

cent to a basketball court. Park planners and designers include mixed uses like this very often. What

is wrong with having these two activities next to each other? The legitimate users of the swings

and sandbox areas are small children within specic age ranges and some likely capable guardians

such as a parent, grandparent, nanny, or baby sitter. Most likely, the guardian is a young mom or an

elderly grandmother (see Figure 28.4). Generally, the parent wants a quiet and unobstructed area

with good natural surveillance. The swing and sandbox area needs to be clean and without contra-

band (needles, bottles, prophylactics, etc.). The guardian uses the area to observe the children play

and have some brief reprieve outside to enjoy the fresh air.

CONTENTS

Park Size ........................................................................................................................................ 701

Public Access Rights and Stallone-Gate ........................................................................................ 704

Landscape Design .......................................................................................................................... 707

Lighting Design ............................................................................................................................. 710

What Is the Role of Public Art and CPTED? ................................................................................. 712

Technological Fixes ....................................................................................................................... 717

Summary ........................................................................................................................................ 720

References ...................................................................................................................................... 721

698 21st Century Security and CPTED

FIGURE 28.2 A neighborhood park in Albuquerque, NM.

FIGURE 28.3 A family enjoying a picnic in a park in Chicago.

FIGURE 28.1 Kids enjoying the extreme park in Louisville, KY.