TRYGG STAD - Chalmers tekniska högskola

criticism of rationality will create discomfort by pointing outthat planners are, in fact, dealing with irrational subjects, allof whom have different experiences (whether or not theplanners are aware of them). Such incommensurabilitybetween the planning practice and the lived experience leadsto the conclusion that planners (and crime prevention people)can not speak on behalf of every group in society and thatpeople must be given the chance to produce their own places.This argument criticises the use of ‘master’ plans which donot take into account differences between different peopleand different places. The lack of definition risks losing themultiple facets of the problem. When defining the specificrelation of fear and space, it highlights which aspects are, orare not, involved. Implemented measures have an impact onsocial space, that is on both the physical and the socialaspects of space.In chapter four, To Build the Safe and Secure City,discourses on crime prevention and safer cities are presented,i.e. the theories, programs and ideas which lies behind thesuggested measures to be implemented today. The ideas useddepend on the underlying ideologies and perspectives on howurban life should be organised. Critiques of the commonideas and suggested measures are also presented in thischapter.Firstly, urban planning perspectives on safety areintroduced by referring to urban researcher Jane Jacobs,architects Oscar Newman and Alice Coleman, as well asanthropologist Sally Merry and architectural theorist BillHillier. Jane Jacobs argues that the city works through certainprinciples where the strangers, variation and multiplicityconstitute the base of good urban life. Safety is aconsequence of good urban life, but safety is not necessarilydue to people knowing each other – urban safety is anonymousand happens without being organised. Helping each otheris an urban reflex. Lately, there is a revival of Jacobs theory,probably because of people´s reaction against urban peripheraldevelopments and the threat towards inner city life.Newman and Coleman proposed the idea that neighbourhoodsshould be built in a way that made them possibleto defend. Through dividing the area into smaller parts, theterritory is made defensible. They believed it is possible todesign out crime. Newman draws on Jacobs in his theory, butin my opinion his reading of her ideas on private and publicspace is a misunderstanding. Jacobs claims that insecurity*275