WHEREAS the creation of the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) agenda gave birth to hostile architecture, a detrimental form of urban exclusionism. By using hostile design typologies, cities can render public spaces unusable to undesirable citizens, and erase images of poverty, social decay and public disorder resulting in upper-class homogeneity;
WHEREAS the creation of the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) agenda gave birth to hostile architecture, a detrimental form of urban exclusionism. By using hostile design typologies, cities can render public spaces unusable to undesirable citizens, and erase images of poverty, social decay and public disorder resulting in upper-class homogeneity;
AND WHEREAS the ways in which CPTED and hostile architecture have led to the alarming erasure of free public space should be addressed, the consequences of this has fallen upon marginalized populations. The CPTED philosophy endangers the very nature of diversity in urban environments and brings into question whether public spaces are truly free and democratic;
AND WHEREAS CPTED is an old school philosophy that alienates Black, Indigenous and People of Colour in the public realm as opposed to designing spaces to build up and support healthy communities;
AND WHEREAS CPTED is a design philosophy that turns neighborhoods into mazes of “defensible space” that often (unconsciously) criminalizes Black, Indigenous and People of Color under the guise of safety;
AND WHEREAS examine the specific CPTED recommendations in this draft to make sure that we are creating equitable guidelines to lift people up to build connections within our communities, not continuing to inform our decisions from a system derived from structural racism;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Item 2 of the report of the Executive Policy Committee dated June 16, 2021, be amended as follows:
Add the following new Recommendation 1.H.:
"1.H. That the definition for “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)” from the Glossary of the Complete Communities Direction Strategy 2.0 be deleted in its entirety and replaced with the following:
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)
CPTED is an approach to urban and architectural design intended to increase the safety of the built environment and reduce incidence and fear of crime. For example, it would promote outside-facing windows in lieu of a blank wall to allow for passive surveillance of the public realm. CPTED interventions should incorporate lived experiences and socio-economic, cultural, and historical knowledge to maximize widespread access, usability, safety, and quality of life for all users. It should not result in design interventions that may be hostile to marginalized or vulnerable people or reduce the quality and/or usability of the built environment.”
Add the following new Recommendation 1.I.:
“1.I. That the following new policies be added to Complete Communities Direction Strategy 2.0:
A. 5.4.1 – Ensure CPTED interventions incorporate lived experiences and local knowledge to maximize widespread access, usability, safety, and quality of life for all users.”
B. Promote safety and accessibility in the design of the built environment
3.12 Promote Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles in new development to increase safety and reduce incidence and fear of crime.
3.13 Ensure CPTED interventions incorporate the lived experiences and socio-economic, cultural, and historical knowledge to promote widespread access, usability, safety, and quality of life for all users, and that they do not produce hostile design that excludes marginalized or vulnerable people or reduction in the quality and/or usability of the built environment.
3.14 Use the City of Winnipeg Accessibility Design Standard to promote accessibility in the built environment.
3.15 Where urban spaces are intended to be used by the broader public, encourage ownership and operation that maximizes access, usability, and quality of life for all users.”