Designs of Risk: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, Social Control, and the Prospects of Professionalism

Abstract

This research paper seeks to understand how and why practitioners of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) exercise rational and strategic forms of social control over their clients. Based on data gathered from semistructured interviews and myriad documents, I argue that practitioners frame (Goffinan, 1974) crime related risks in ways that render the application of CPTED a rational and prudent course of action while at the same time establishing the professional legitimacy of their expertise. Moreover, I argue that this dynamic not only reflects the socioeconomic conditions inherent in risk society, but also sheds light on contemporary forms of governmentality. I conclude by suggesting that CPTED may actually undermine our ability to engage those unlike ourselves in meaningful political dialogue while at the same time individualizing what is essentially a structural social problem.