Defensible space

Defensible space

Defensible space arose from the planning and behavioral critics of the 1960s such as Jane Jacobs, but was articulated most concretely by Oscar Newman and his observations that social behavior seemed connected with certain built environments. Creating Defensible Space is a book by Oscar Newman that was written to help communities create a safer environment.   The author arguments are commonly misinterpreted and misunderstood.   Within the book, the author presents three case studies.   The concepts of all defensible space programs have a common goal, to create a physical layout of communities to allow residents to control the areas around the home.   The government does not help with the programs. The help comes from the community.   It highly depends on residential involvement to reduce crime.   The program has also found a way to create inexpensive housing for the poor without governments help.   It evolved around thirty years ago by a teacher who witnessed newly constructed public housing be destroyed.  
                Pruitt-Igoe, a 2,740 unit public housing project constructed in St Louis was the first case study.   When this community was built the density wasn’t high but the 11-story building was built for a high density to live in.   This was done to keep the grounds free of activity.   This study was a disaster. It proved to be an area for crime and neglect of others property.   The author discovered that the housing for low-income and single-families proved to evoke no identity for the twenty family homes.   They felt that there was no feeling of control or oneness.   Newman decided to study how creating defensible space will affect resident’s ability to control them.   He categorized the buildings by the dwelling unit, single family homes, walk-ups, and town homes.   The outcome of the study was how the building type affected the dwellers behavior.   “A family’s claim to a territory diminishes proportionally as the number of families who share that claim...