Essay Sample on Effect of Architecture in Reducing Crimes: St. Louis Missouri vs. Oklahoma City

Introduction

The primary function of architectural work is designing of cities and rural areas in a way that there are no loopholes and opportunities for criminal acts. The strategic approaches exploited by architecture aims at preventing crime (Sutton, Cherney & White, 2013). While this achieved without designing and constructing actual fortress that may deteriorate the quality of life, especially in urban centers such as St. Louis Missouri, the construction of Oklahoma City was subject to security strategies in which the architectures considered appropriate design decisions (Solomon, 2008). The essence of this is because the physical environment plays a crucial role in creating opportunities for crimes as well as fear among the inhabitants of such environments. For instance, some places favor criminal acts due to their physical layout. It these such regions where individuals get the fear of the crimes of the streets, and a typical example are regions where criminals in St predate individuals. Louis Missouri (Gardiner, 1978). In the process, various strategies can be used in achieving a secure community.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Designing Urban Villages

Robert Park developed the theory behind this architectural design. Park postulated that cities and areas inhabited by human beings are products of the physical components as well as human behavior. In this manner, two aspects directly affect one another. In this case, designing cities and neighborhoods of St. Louis Missouri leaving loopholes for crimes as well as hideouts for criminals is a contribution to an insecure city. The converse of it is true, and Park implies that physical proximity of individuals in an environment is trigger cooperation, integration, recognition, the establishment of morale, and this amounts to mutual protection among the members of such as the community (Gardiner, 1978). To this end, architectural work designs the environment to confer social integration directly, and in this manner, it indirectly exploits social cohesion to address criminal acts. For instance, when the social aspects of Missouri residents were left disorganized and disorderly, there was a high prevalence of crimes (Grant, 2015). The reason behind this is that a disorderly and disorganized physical environment enables criminal acts and criminals thrive, and whenever they get into action, they successfully terrorize the community and get away undetected.

On the contrary, organizing the environment in a way that there are social cohesion and mutual protection and inclusivity, criminals are easily detected, and their hideouts are also located hassle-free (Sutton, Cherney & White, 2013). The development of urban villages is facilitated strategically in that there is a design for pedestrian sidewalks, motorist passageways alongside other security apparatus such as proximity sensors to detect intrusion (Hopper, 2012). Again, there is an outline for the construction of natural and mechanical barriers such as walls and fences. Landscaping, however, plays a fundamental role in achieving this (Hopper, 2012).

Natural Surveillance for Crime

While the design and construction of St. Louis Missouri was influenced by episodes of street violence, crime, and other insecurity reasons, the design and construction of Oklahoma city were guided and informed by the need to develop a safe and secure city (Solomon, 2008). Missouri's primary target included incidences of theft, muggings as well as street robbery are down stopped. For instance, designing neighborhood streets to urban centers where social amenities are located have been a source of insecurity nightmare. There have been episodes of carjackings, muggings as well as robberies arising from the fact that criminals from the streets find their way into such institutions. Worse still, the location of parking lots outside these institutions put workers and guests of these institutions at risk of attacks from criminals (Gardiner, 1978). However, Oklahoma city revolved around prophylaxis against security threats through setback construction to shield the city against vehicular bombs, the establishment of robust wall exteriors enhancing blast resistance, elaborate structural designs to prevent the collapse of the building (Solomon, 2008). To this end, two distinct views arise. One, architectural approach in St. Louis Missouri's case focused on insecurity posed by human beings through robbery, muggings, and theft. However, Oklahoma's architectural design covered both human security issues as well as threats posed by the constructions.

An excellent example is the construction of a robust building that does not collapse progressively. Progressive collapse of constructions is a risk to city dwellers, especially where these are a high prevalence of collapse. Thus, architectural designs and planning of cities is the ultimate solution for safety issues, and this is because it is an all-rounded approach to security threats. This amounts to four effective ways through which the design of the environment solves crimes. One, redesigning street systems so that intruders from the streets have no easy access to such facilities. Two, development of transitional buffer zones between such facilities and residential areas by constructing items such as off-set street parking lots or playgrounds. Three, construction of robust buildings that do not collapse progressively. Lastly, ban parking lots, traditionally designed to serve hospital visitors and staff, adjacent to such institutions (Gardiner, 1978). These strategies enhance the perception of risk offenders and enhance the limiting access of the vulnerable and criminal targets by criminals (Hopper, 2012).

Crime Opportunity and Environmental Scale

While architectural work in Oklahoma's construction forecasts on future opportunities and invests in architectural education touching on the future's security, St. Louis Missouri's design is more concerned with solving the present security issues (Solomon, 2008). However, the approach to achieving these diverse objectives rely on the use of architectural designs and works. For instance, the aspect of territorially is prominent in St. Louis Missouri (Gardiner, 1978). Oklahoma city's design, on the other hand, focuses on designing barriers to terrorist attacks following the severe episodes of the bombing of the city from the parking lots, and in the process, the city's design and security approach differ from that of St. Louis Missouri. In the latter's case, the principle of one-size-fits-all is discounted. However, the principle is applied Oklahoma city's design in which the architectures alongside the building owners as well as those intending to construct their houses determine how to address security issues by drafting their plans (Solomon, 2008).

Conclusion

In most cases, environmental design and the physical layout is a significant security approach to crime in estates as well as cities. However, the architectural designs used in the development of Oklahoma and St. Louis Missouri cities share the attribute of safety enhancement as well as differences. For instance, Oklahoma's design focuses on immediate and present security threats while Oklahoma's design focuses on long-term security assurance. This is achieved through architectural work that aims at addressing security issues, and this is achievable through various strategies. One of the fundamental approaches in this part is the landscaping and restructuring of the physical environment. To this end, there is strategic planning of social amenities, residential neighborhoods as well as factors, such as playgrounds, that may trigger violence among individuals.

References

Gardiner, R. A. (1978). Design for safe neighborhoods: The environmental security planning and design process. Department of Justice, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. Washington D.C, 1978. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/50335NCJRS.pdf

Grant, H. (2015). Social Crime Prevention in the Developing World: Exploring the Role of Police in Crime Prevention. Cham: Springer International Publishing: Imprint: Springer, 2015.

Hopper, L. J. (2012). Landscape architectural graphic standards. Hoboken, N.J. : John Wiley & Sons, 2012.

Pease, K., & Roach, J. (2013). Evolution and crime. Willan.

Solomon, N. B., (2008). Architecture: Celebrating the past, designing the future. New York: Visual Reference Publications; Washington, D.C.: American Institute of Architects, 2008.

Sutton, A., Cherney, A., & White, R. (2013). Crime prevention: Principles, perspectives, and practices. Cambridge University Press.