[In-Depth Look] The Second Hangang Miracle: 'CPTED' Is the Answer

Professor Kim Do-woo, Department of Police Science, College of Law, Gyeongnam National University

Recently, as public interest and demand for 'safety from crime' have increased, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) has emerged as an alternative for crime prevention. CPTED is a crime prevention technique that reduces crime opportunities by complementing the spatiotemporal vulnerabilities of crime occurrence through appropriate design and effective operation of the built environment. Central government ministries such as the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and Ministry of Education are promoting CPTED projects related to village-level, city-level, school, and women's safety according to the characteristics of their respective tasks. Moreover, every year, around 300 CPTED projects are implemented nationwide, mainly by local governments, and as of 2018, more than 200 CPTED-related ordinances have been enacted by local governments.

In fact, as CPTED projects have become more active, Korea's crime prevention policies such as 'Crime Zero City,' 'Safe Village,' 'Safe City,' 'U-City,' 'Women’s Safety,' and 'Safe School Routes' have made significant progress. However, in this process, CPTED has sometimes been misunderstood as a panacea effective for all areas, spaces, and crimes, leading to indiscriminate implementation without considering regional characteristics and systematic strategies. In some cases, this has caused a 'rich get richer, poor get poorer' phenomenon in the provision of policing services, and even triggered the so-called negative effect of crime prevention known as 'crime displacement' (a phenomenon where criminals change their target area due to increased security levels in one area), revealing side effects of CPTED projects.

The reason CPTED projects have attracted public interest can be explained by analogy with Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. CPTED relates to the second level, the 'need for safety.' Korea fulfilled the first level, 'physiological needs,' about 50 years ago through the so-called 'Miracle on the Han River' to solve economic problems. Therefore, addressing the 'need for safety' is the current goal Korea should pursue and a prerequisite for progressing to the next stage. From this perspective, developing alternatives for the continuous advancement of CPTED is related to the nation's growth toward the next stage.

Considering that Korea's introduction of CPTED projects lags behind advanced countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom by more than 40 years, it is essential to implement these projects with careful deliberation for national advancement. In the early 2000s, during the initial introduction of CPTED projects, Korea experienced massive budget waste and policy failures due to indiscriminate project implementation without an accurate understanding of CPTED. Even now, more than ten years later, unlike the past, the only visible change is that the policy execution authority has shifted from central to local governments, raising concerns that the same mistakes might be repeated. From this viewpoint, it is time to go beyond merely imitating advanced countries' CPTED projects, accurately diagnose Korea's current level, and introduce, continuously develop, and advance CPTED projects suitable for domestic circumstances.

For the future development of CPTED projects, it is necessary to establish privately led CPTED projects driven by various private organizations beyond the current government-led CPTED projects centered on central and local governments. Additionally, after an accurate diagnosis of large-scale CPTED projects in advanced countries, ways to improve them should be sought. Furthermore, the formation of CPTED councils and the introduction of specialized research institutions are needed to ensure continuous maintenance and management.