Here's to our students - a life of purpose

Baltimore's Penn train station during our class night-time safety audits

by Gregory Saville

I taught my first CPTED seminar at my home university in Toronto while in graduate school when I was still a police officer in 1986. It launched my teaching, researching, planning, and consulting career. Since then we have modernized and expanded the CPTED program far beyond lights, locks, territorial controls, and target hardening. 

In recent years, with the help of the many smart and experienced members of our SafeGrowth Network, along with some leading academics, practitioners, community residents, researchers, and police officers, the SafeGrowth method has flourished as a powerful way to transform places. But today, after all these years and all this progress, I remain powerfully impressed by our students.

Landing home at the Denver International Airport - reflecting on past training

Landing in Denver last week after a flurry of training projects it struck me that I still revere the intelligence and tenacity brought to our crime prevention classes by the residents, police, city organizations, and community associations. Our recent courses in Madison, Vancouver, Baltimore, Palm Springs, Saskatoon, and New York City again reaffirmed my faith in our students. They have the most to gain and lose because they live in neighborhoods afflicted by crime. We affectionately call them SafeGrowthers, and they are remarkable.

They hold a mix of professional and personal skills and they bring a wealth of experience to the table, often with humor and passion. 

Reading, talking, walking, and thinking
- they engage the SafeGrowth material with full attention

Our students are an impressive bunch

Fighting crime and building neighborhood livability is a massive undertaking with many obstacles. And yet, even when faced with the miracle stupidity of government red tape, jumbled media distortions, and political manipulators, they still somehow manage to stay the course and get the job done. 

Outdoor Safety Audits are a popular part of the training

This year, once again, I listened to the obscene wickedness they face in the crime, drugs, and violence plaguing their neighborhoods. They tell us our training offers them tools and methods to succeed, and for that we are grateful. Yet their stories cause goosebumps:

• In one city, residents and police tackled a high-crime city-owned parking structure and presented the results to the city council, hoping for action to improve safety. A year later, after no action, a resident was robbed and murdered in exactly the way they predicted. Crime prevention is not always easy! 
• In one New York neighborhood, students came to class the day after a shooting homicide of one of their neighbors. 

Some of our students are already engaged in incredible prevention work, such as the Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence organization

• In a Baltimore class, one group tackled school violence in a high school where school administrators refused to collaborate with them. 
• In another city, residents were asked by some managers not to deliver their findings at final community presentations regarding violence at a homeless shelter. They did so anyway and, in doing so, they learned how to speak with diplomacy and candor. They ended up with a positive reaction from the shelter and charted out practical steps forward.
• In some cities, police shone as stellar leaders who engaged with the residents. In others, police never bothered to attend or participate (this being a free class in proven methods of preventing crime). 
• Some students themselves were victims of violence in their own neighborhoods. Others had once been incarcerated for violence, had reformed their lives, and were now community leaders. 

In New York, training occurred in multiple neighborhoods in different parts of the city 

When we speak to our students in class, online, or during virtual office hours, we work to provide the best resources and the latest research findings on preventing crime. Usually, we end up providing emotional support and encouragement. 

During this election season, I know who deserves our vote and whose cause we should ensure politicians support. It should be these peace warriors who do this magnificent work. To all our students from your instructors and from everyone in the SafeGrowth network... Thank you! Thank you! 

A Catalyst for climate action and sustainable communities

Alberta's glacier-crowned Mt. Athabasca, in Jasper Park - a symbol of connectedness. Water runs west to the Pacific, north to the Arctic, and east to Hudson's Bay. The nearby town of Jasper was recently destroyed by climate wildfires
- photo courtesy Florian Fuchs, CC BY 3.0 Wiki Commons

by Anna Brassard

We have often stated that SafeGrowth is less of a crime prevention strategy and more of a neighborhood planning method. True, we usually begin by tackling crime and using tactics like 1st and 2nd-generation CPTED. But from the beginning, we have built many of our ideas on the urban planning Smart Growth movement, which has at its core a sustainable environment and a response to climate change. 

CPTED, of course, is none of those things. That we are able to have such a potent impact on reducing crime and building cohesion convinces us that climate change programs are a powerful magnifying force with benefits far and wide.

 

Climate change fire near Los Angeles. Our neighbourhoods need to
learn resilience strategies - Photo Eddiem360, CC BY-SA 4.0 

EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS

Some of our earliest SafeGrowth programs began due to extreme weather events, such as our work in the Hollygrove neighborhood following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. We are increasingly seeing extreme weather events with increased flooding and wildfires. Our cities are getting hotter and hotter with few places for reprieve from the heat. Concrete jungles, indeed! Forest fires burn around the world, displacing many. 

Jasper National Park, in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, was recently evacuated due to out-of-control wildfires that consumed 30% of the historic town of Jasper.  Alongside extreme weather, aging infrastructure is beginning to fail. The need to address climate change is becoming increasingly evident. 

A recent study measuring the effectiveness of worldwide climate policies that significantly reduced emissions over the past twenty years provides guidance for meeting climate targets. It concluded that a mix of carrots and sticks is required. Policy is one piece of the puzzle. 

How do we approach sustainability at the community level?  This is where SafeGrowth arises. A pioneering initiative, SafeGrowth aims to empower communities to address climate change and build a more sustainable future. By focusing on a range of interconnected issues like transportation, housing, streetscapes, and land use in conjunction with crime prevention, SafeGrowth helps communities identify and implement solutions that address climate change and enhance the overall quality of life.

 

The Glenmore Reservoir supplies Calgary with water - until an outdated water feeder line failed in June leading to weeks of shortages  - photo Qyd, CC BY-SA 3.0

WATER DISASTER IN CALGARY 

Calgary recently suffered a catastrophic water main break of its main waterline that provides water to 40% of the city. Montreal also recently suffered a significant water main break with the subsequent flooding of homes and businesses. In Calgary, residents and businesses were placed under Stage 4 water restrictions to reduce water usage by 25% until repairs to the water main could be made. 

Fortunately, the community stepped up in this emergency and found ways to reduce water consumption including flushing their toilets less often, installing rain barrels to water their gardens, and taking shorter showers. Initially, residents worked together and there were few tickets for violations issues. After an extensive review of the entire water system, it was discovered that many segments of the waterlines needed immediate repair to prevent another imminent failure. The city returned to Stage 4 water restrictions so repairs could be made. 

Recent news headline about water feeder line failure in June, 2024

This time around, residents and businesses were less enthusiastic about reducing water consumption, and many tickets were issued for water usage violations. Apparently, social cohesion is not easy to sustain in climate emergencies, possibly since residents have only limited experience with intensive community collaboration. 

AN EARLY EXAMPLE OF COHESION

SafeGrowth offers a path forward for communities seeking to create a more resilient, equitable, and prosperous future. When we teach our classes, including a recent training in Vancouver, our team was taught 1st, and 2nd CPTED as tools to address the physical, and social aspects of the neighbourhood. This is the beginning of connecting with the natural and built environment. By working on long-term neighbourhood plans and crime reduction projects on a regular basis, different groups within the community learn the skills of project development. 

Our Livability Academy is the next step in furthering collaborative programming as we discovered in New Orleans and Philadelphia. That is a longer-term program of free, weekly public education classes in which dozens of community members learn the skills and power of collaboration. Now that 3rd Generation CPTED has been introduced, there are specific tactics for economic, public health, social, and environmental sustainability – the very core principle of environmental resilience. 

Collaborative teams using the SafeGrowth model create innovative visions and plans for a more resilient, safe, and sustainable neighbourhood future. The latest water crisis in Calgary reaffirmed the need to train neighbourhood residents across the city in collaborative action before the disaster shows up.