Helping architects to design against crime

The relationship between architecture and human behaviour is long documented and well researched. We now know that buildings and cities can affect our mood and well-being. Neuroscience has shown how the brain interprets and analyses physical space, influencing human experience.

Good design shapes how spaces look and influences how they function. Living and working in a place where design is intentional and done with the users in mind, has shown positive, psychological benefits. It raises the quality of life for individuals and society at large.

Meanwhile, when design is not well considered, poor planning can lead to areas becoming hotspots for crime and antisocial behaviour. It is said that historically, design teams have paid scant attention to the potential cognitive effects of their creations on an area’s inhabitants. The imperative to design something unique and individual has tended to override considerations of how it might shape the behaviours of those who will live with it.

For decades, housing developments in the UK prioritised speed, cost and the brutalist design trend over safety or crime reduction strategies. The negative effects of such oversights are still felt in some social housing developments, although many have since been demolished, after becoming completely crime ridden within mere months or years of their opening. Examples such as the Hulme area of Manchester, are stark reminders of ‘design gone wrong’, where designing out crime was not considered.

Designing Out Crime

Designing Out Crime refers to the process of planning and designing spaces that deter criminal behaviour. By considering crime prevention during the design phase, rather than trying to add security measures as an afterthought, it becomes harder, riskier, or less attractive for offenders to commit crimes in the first place.

For architects and contractors working on public realm and housing schemes, addressing anti-social behaviour through design is increasingly essential and in many cases is a planning requirement.

The ‘Designing Out Crime’ guide for designers, explains that while changing behaviour is one aspect of crime reduction, design also has an important role to play in preventing crime and reducing criminal activity. Design must be considered without compromising the enjoyment and usability of products, places and services by legitimate users.

If designers consider the ways in which the systems they are designing might be susceptible to crime early enough in the design process, they can prevent crime from occurring, or at least reduce the opportunities for offender behaviour.

The ten principles of crime prevention

metroSTOR were recently joined by crime prevention expert, Mark O’Callaghan, in an interactive webinar on Designing Out Crime. Drawing on over 30 years of experience in the Metropolitan Police Service, Mark shared the ten core principles for reducing crime:

1. Target hardening
2. Target removal
3. Reducing the means
4. Reducing the payoff
5. Access control
6. Surveillance
7. Environmental change
8. Rule setting
9. Increase the chances of being caught
10. Deflecting offenders

You can watch the full session here.

Secured by Design (SBD), the official police security initiative, sets out clear guidance on how to reduce crime risk through layout, lighting, access and material choice. It is built around the ten proven strategies for crime prevention. From target hardening and surveillance to access control, environmental change and deflecting offenders, all of these apply directly to external works.

Design solutions with urbanspec

urbanspec product systems are designed to make it easier for architects to integrate crime prevention strategies from the start. Our bin and cycle stores provide clear, practical solutions to common external works challenges, helping ensure SBD principles are met without slowing down the design process. Secure storage solutions incorporate certified locking systems (target hardening) and pre-engineered layouts avoid recessed or hidden areas (surveillance, environmental change). Units are installed with controlled access options such as managed entry or smart locking support access control, while coordinated site wide design makes it easier to maintain clear sightlines and eliminate unmonitored corners.

Across the UK, poor quality external spaces have been linked to issues like fly tipping, arson and vandalism. By contrast, projects that integrate secure bin and cycle housing, clear circulation routes and robust public realm design, see lower incidents of crime, reduced maintenance costs and improved resident experience.

urbanspec systems are developed specifically to support architects in meeting these requirements with confidence. Our solutions reduce design time and remove the complexity from specification.

For architects, demonstrating how a scheme supports community safety is a common planning expectation, particularly in social housing and estate renewal projects. urbanspec simplifies this process for architects and design teams through our coordinated external works systems. Our pre-engineered layouts and coordinated product ranges enable faster specification and clearer compliance with Secured by Design principles, without the complexity of bespoke detailing.

Designing out crime is not an add on. It is a core part of creating successful, sustainable places. With clear technical documentation, CAD resources, BOS files, specification support and design advice to help mitigate the threat from crime, urbanspec makes the process more straightforward for architects from concept through to delivery. 

Our proven product systems make it simpler, more efficient and more effective for architects working across the UK to support the effective prevention of crime.