Abstract
The present study argues that the urban form of affordable housing projects affects safety and security. The study examines the level of safety and security in the Prince Fawaz project proposing recommendations that enhance it. Theories and approaches concerned with the environmental crime are initially reviewed. Then, urban and architectural features as well as crime rates and patterns are documented. Also, trace and behaviour observations are carried out. The observations monitored urban features and behaviours associated with crime or fear of crime. Residents’ perception for security and fear of crime is extracted through a questionnaire. A Space Syntax is processed and linked with the questionnaire and observation outputs. Observations demonstrate a semblance of fear of crime which is supported by records of car and home theft. Although the questionnaire reflects a suitable level of security, it points to peripheral spaces and areas around mosques and shops as the less secure. However, enhancing security in the Prince Fawaz project requires urban interventions including controlling access to peripheral spaces, reviving areas detected to be unsafe, repositioning elements causing visual obstacles and enhancing appearance by vegetation and sustainable maintenance. Besides, reformulating the movement network so that an appropriate integration between residents and strangers is achieved. On the conceptual level, the study proves that none of the theories of environmental crime can act as a comprehensive approach; but each can partly work.
Highlights
With the economic prosperity of the midseventies, the Saudi government began to build many housing projects to meet the growing population and the immigration from villages to cities (Al Hazza', 2001)
On the theoretical level, the case study shows that none of the approaches concerned with security in residential areas reached up to completion; but each has aspects that partly work
Territoriality and access control, the case study shows that streets in which residents and strangers’ movement matches enjoy a higher level of security. This agrees with Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), New Urbanism and Space Syntax
Summary
With the economic prosperity of the midseventies, the Saudi government began to build many housing projects to meet the growing population and the immigration from villages to cities (Al Hazza', 2001). The socio-economic changes caused pressures that led to a rise in crime rates and the emergence of new types of crime (Abdullah Eben Saleh, 1999; Al Beshr, 2000). The crime rate in Saudi Arabia is generally low compared with other countries. During the year 2014, the number of crimes reached 96000 but with a rate of 311 crimes per 100000 people (El-Torky, 2015). The number of crimes in 2016 reached 149781 with a rate of 464.46 crimes per 100000 people. During the last three years, the Saudi government is adopting serious reforms in its economic policy causing a huge number of job’s lay off of foreign labour and dramatic socio-economic changes took place. The present paper is an attempt in this direction
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