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Crime Frameworks

Thinking Thief: Crime Frameworks for Design Against Crime sets out some of Paul Ekblom's crime frameworks. A slide version is here.

Part A presents the frameworks intended to give designers the underpinning knowledge of design against crime, taken from a crime science source but much adapted by collaborations with designers. The knowledge covers defining the crime problem and the characteristics of the aspired-to solution; and filling the gap between problem and solution by using a range of successively more sophisticated practical conceptual frameworks.
These include:

1. The Crime Situation & its individual elements

2. The situation as a complex whole – the Conjunction of Criminal Opportunity

3. The dynamics of interaction between the people, the products and the places involved in the CCO – Scripts, script clashes and Stories

4. The more specific characterisation of types of crime risk – the Misdeeds & Security framework

5. Mobilisation of people/organisations (including users, site managers, designers and design decisionmakers) as crime preventers – the CLAIMED framework

Part B moves from the general to the particular, and runs through a possible sequence whereby the frameworks just introduced can be used in real design problems. The example used throughout is bike parking; in many cases design for indoor bike parking, which originated in briefing for a MA Industrial Design studio project at CSM.

A companion presentation ‘Risk analysis design guide’introduces a more structured version of the frameworks described here (the aim in due course is to merge them completely), and uses them to undertake a specific crime risk analysis of bike stands and bike parking facilities, leading to a theory-based suite of security design guidelines. It will also use the same framework (by summer 2009) and language to articulate guidelines obtained from a review of design material ‘out there’ and to synthesise a single guidance document.

This suite of interdisciplinary frameworks and procedures is ultimately intended to be developed into a practical working package for the developers of design guidance and design standards; and at another level for designers and crime scientists working together in practice and research. As such it is part of the contribution of the Design Against Crime Research Centre towards developing and building innovative capacity in the struggle against crime.

For the full document click here. and for the report Standard generation through application of CCO framework. Final report WPA2 of Bike Off 2, click here.