Andrew Kimani: We Can Reengineer Our Security Through Physical Design. This Is How

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 16- Comprehensive environmental planning and design of buildings and structures, in urban development, has a bearing on the physical security of settlements in cities, towns, and emerging human communes.

Well-planned cities and settlement areas enable prudent physical security management through visibility leading to better surveillance and reducing response time during distress calls.

Proper management through deliberate environmental manipulation in the conception, designing, building, and set-up of properties and real estate spaces, can be the first step in winning the fight against crime.

Various researches worldwide have established that crime prevention, detection and deterrence are a product of the built environment and what it projects.

Therefore, a well-lit estate with clear markings, clean, manicured gardens with pedestrian and cyclists’ walkways incorporated in the architectural plans with an elaborate and minimal escape route plus a clear line of visibility are some factors that have assisted in the reduction of crime.

In Europe, the development of large lit and clean pathways that are majorly non-motorized and  in residential areas not only add to the general beauty of the built environment but significantly assist in monitoring criminal activities

Exaggerated, and not necessarily an actual general feeling of being watched and continuous surveillance should always be incorporated in any design. Large windows, demarcated recreational parks and multiple lighting options, limited access areas, especially to unauthorized persons should well be considered in the inception of any building or house.

The Closed Circuit Television(CCTV) policy should be regularized and adopted in all Counties as the minimum standard of all buildings. These feeds should then be centralized to the nearest surveillance point and/or a police station. They should be available on demand

Developed and traditional functionaries of houses like aesthetics, practicability and other modern appliances of the new age should not be the only consideration in the architectural and structural designs of Kenyan houses

In the planning of the Nairobi City, plans that were elaborately drawn before the 1970s had clear demarcations that divided the area into specific spaces with various practicalities. These included the industrial areas, residential areas, dumpsites, single-unit houses area, high-rise building areas, low-cost houses, and civil servants housing schemes.

Since the population was less than a million city residents, the plans were projected to cater for such a small number, albeit being well drawn and comprehensive.

However, with rural-urban migration search for both unskilled and skilled work, job opportunities and the lack of proper enforcement by the local authority led to mushrooming of slums, unstructured mixed houses, small and dirty alleys, lack of green spaces and children recreational parks thus a subsequent increase in crime.

Now this situation is then multiplied by the number of cities, trading centers and towns in Kenya exacerbated by the ever-growing population.

It is evident that there has been unprecedented growth in the real-estate industry due to availability of accessible and cheap loans from the late 1990s up to about 2017 complemented also by liberalization of the economy.

The emergence of the nouveau riche because of new opportunities, globalization, higher education and the possibilities of the ICT and Finance technology (FINTECHs)has brought new tastes and lifestyles.

  Consequently, a new phenomena like gated estates, flats, and apartments mushroomed.

In their planning and construction, considerations were normally not on security management but maximization of spaces to have as much quality housing as possible with the best amenities.

The existence of a perimeter fence as a deterrence and a gate at the entrance with private security sufficed as the ultimate crime prevention. In line with that, slums also emerged to provide a stream of required laborers for the new employers.

Thus many slums and unplanned spaces arose as a consequence of demand.

In the City center, many buildings are built with consideration of the planning and architectural demands. Security and crime prevention is normally at the bottom of the check list

There are normally no requirements for security or crime protocols to be incorporated in any house designs. But as we advance and the world becomes more connected technologically, we are experiencing complex crimes that were unusual in the tropics. Thus, it might soon be a requirement that all houses being constructed shall have; panic rooms, safe rooms, bunkers, vaults, bomb and bullet proof enclosures, doors, windows, secret rooms and fortified designed rooms.

It is important that in the designing of any house, the concept of layering and target hardening be more elaborate and exhibited not as an afterthought but at the initial stage. Layering is the combining of multiple mitigating defenses and security controls to protect an asset or important valuable component.  Target hardening on the other hand is decreasing or disallowing access to crime targets. These can also be by reduction of anticipated rewards on offer to the offender.

Interventions such as deadbolts, layered fences, turnstiles, speed bumps, locks, pressured floors among other designs clearly show that the area is well monitored. This automatically scares off any potential miscreant and criminal.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Designs (CPTED) is a concept that visualizes having security considerations incorporated in building designs with a view to ensure that crime is prevented.

What of the existing buildings that were erected without consideration of CPTED at the design stage?

A security expert can always suggest, recommend and successfully assist in its application by retrofitting some fundamentals to wade off and decrease the opportunity for crime to occur.

Adopting some principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Designs (CPTED) will always make a building or house safer to live, work or operate in.

Amendments in the Architects and Quantity Surveyors Act(2012)  by making it mandatory to include security input from a security expert and in-cooperating it in the designs, should be considered.

The Ministry of Interior should therefore develop minimum security standards and protocols especially in the construction of all Government and multi-storied buildings that will house thousands of people as it also looks at ensuring affordable housing for all, in line with its Agenda Four and Vision 2030 development blueprint.

The author, Andrew Kimani, is a Criminology Lecturer, Tutorial Fellow, Security practitioner, and analyst, based in Nairobi, Kenya.