Defensible Space in a Housing Project - A Case Study From a South Florida Ghetto (A Methodological Review) (From Link Between Crime and the Built Environment, Volume 2, P C536-C540, 1980, by Tetsuro Motoyama et al - See NCJ-79544)

• NCJ Number: 79592
• Author(s): T Motoyama; H Rubenstein; P Hartjens
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 5 pages
• Corporate Author: American Institutes for Research
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Available on microfiche from NCJRS as NCJ-79544.

Annotation

This review assesses a study by R.J. Tata, S. Van Horn, and D. Lee designed to demonstrate links between residents' perceptions of their residential environment and observed personal and community attitudes.

Abstract

Specifically, the study evaluated the Citrus Park, Fla., public housing development against the physical design guidelines presented by Newman in his development of the 'defensible space' model. Interviews were conducted with 83 residents in the housing development. Interview questions focused on resident attitudes toward environmental conditions, respondents' sense of security, and community pride. Interview results were interpreted according to Newman's theories on positive and negative aspects of the physical design of residential buildings. The study concluded that the housing development design violated six of Newman's eight precepts for creating secure (defensible space) residential complexes and that the effect of the poor physical design was frustration, alienation from society, insecurity and hopelessness among residents. These conclusions are not supported by the research. The study's failure to use a comparison group renders it incapable of verifying the link between resident attitudes and the physical design of the housing development. Further, the study accepted the Newman precepts without verifying them. Tabular data and footnotes are not provided.