Measuring station design quality for personal safety – Preliminary results (21)

Crime on public transport is a major concern for society and authorities; and many security measures have been adopted in public transport facilities like stations to reduce crime and improve the perception of safety of passengers. However a scale to measure the design quality of the public transport facilities using Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles has not yet been developed. This paper presents preliminary results of a research program to develop a unified measure of the overall design quality of train stations in terms of surveillance, access control/target hardening, maintenance, territoriality and activity support, which are the main underlying elements of CPTED. In this study a preliminary scale has been developed and applied to 4 stations in suburban Melbourne. The scores illustrate the overall station design quality and highlight elements of the stations to address to enhancing safety in future. Areas for future research and implications for practice are explored.