Designing public spaces to prevent crime is topic of workshop at the U of M Monday, Nov. 6
Contacts: Laura Weber, College of Design, (612) 625-6566
Patty Mattern, University News Service (612) 624-2801
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (11/03/2006) —Many people want to get out more often to walk, bike and play in their neighborhoods but their fear of becoming victims of crime prevents them from doing such activities. Two experts on crime prevention in public spaces will examine the potential advantages and limitations for preventing crime through environmental design from 8 to 10:30 a.m., Monday, Nov. 6, in the Campus Club at the University of Minnesota Coffman Union, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis.
The event is part of a workshop series sponsored by Design for Health, a year-long collaboration between the Metropolitan Design Center at the University of Minnesota's College of Design and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (BCBSMN).
Design for Health (www.designforhealth.net) serves to bridge the gap between the emerging research base on community design and healthy living and local government planning, including planning for transportation, land use, urban design, parks and open space.
The experts who will speak are:
• Internationally renowned planner Wendy Sarkissian, of Sarkissian Associates Planners, Nimbin, Australia. Sarkissian has been working in the areas of social planning and crime prevention since the 1970s.
• Kristen Day, associate professor, department of Planning, Policy, and Design, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine. Day has written about fear of crime and the physical environment, men’s fear in public spaces, women’s fear in public spaces and planning for safer, more livable communities.
The Design for Health project is collaborating with municipalities that received funding from BCBSMN to address public health issues in their upcoming comprehensive planning process: St. Louis Park, Bloomington, Eden Prairie, Arden Hills, St. Paul, St. Paul Park, and Two Harbors.
A center within the University's new College of Design, the Metropolitan Design Center investigates how design can be used to make the metropolitan landscape more livable and sustainable. It examines urban design across metropolitan areas through projects, research, and education.