Hwaseong and Guri to Invest 1 Billion Won in "Crime Prevention Urban Environment Design Project"

Gyeonggi Province will implement the "Crime Prevention Urban Environment Design Project" this year, which includes improvements to nighttime walkways in the areas of Bongdam-eup in Hwaseong City and Topyeong-dong in Guri City.

The Crime Prevention Urban Environment Design (CPTED) project involves analyzing the relationship between offenders, victims, and the environmental characteristics of crime locations to create spaces that are defensible against crime. This refers to preventive design that not only directly deters crimes but also reduces the fear of crime.

Last year, Gyeonggi Province held a public contest among its 31 cities and counties to select this year’s project sites, ultimately choosing Hwaseong City and Guri City.

The selected projects will receive 150 million won in support from the province and 350 million won in municipal funding.

Hwaseong City will focus on areas with a high floating population of young people near university districts, creating an environment where residents can feel safe even when returning home late. The city will apply crime prevention environmental design techniques to areas densely populated with officetels and studio apartments, as well as school routes, to support a safe residential environment. In addition, it plans to foster self-sustaining communities through crime prevention programs involving university students.

Before and after images of the residential densely populated alleyway environment improvement project in Gyeonggi Province

Guri City will focus on areas densely populated with restaurants, bars, and multi-family housing. The city will improve lighting environments to establish a natural surveillance system, strengthen access control in blind spots, and create a safer neighborhood by installing crime prevention safety map signboards, among other measures.

In 2013, Gyeonggi Province became the first in the country to enact an ordinance on crime prevention urban environment design. Since 2014, the province has annually selected and supported two to five project sites through public contests among cities and counties. To date, a total of 44 locations have received support.

Kang Gilsun, Director of Architectural Policy for Gyeonggi Province, stated, "We will continue to promote urban environment design projects to improve residents’ quality of life and create safer residential environments in vulnerable areas through environmental improvements."