Examining GITAM (Deemed to be University), Hyderabad Campus for Crime Prevention through Environmental Design Measures: A Foundation Towards a Safe CPTED Exterior Campus Model

Abstract

In the present scenario, Campus violence in India is a significant public health issue that needs to be adopted. It affects the user groups physically and psychologically. On 6th February 2020, during the annual cultural fest of Gargi College in New Delhi, a group of men entered the campus and created violence (molestation) on a massive scale. Probable reasons investigated were lack of security, political issues, signal jammers placed on campus, etc. The paper attempts to highlight various frequently emerging problems occurring on various campuses and, as an architect, what has to be adopted while planning for spaces on campuses to prevent crime or violence through environmental designing in the future is explained. These are achieved by choosing the GITAM Hyderabad campus for examining and primarily conducting surveys based on users' perceptions during day and night times, along with the author’s analysis of different spaces in the campus, thereby obtaining secondary data from published papers and finally, formulating findings from the best practices to prevent crime for future safe exterior campus model. The scope for future research would be a detailed study of interior campus CPTEDmeasures. The result of this paper has important implications for any college authorities in India to find practical solutions and plan student-friendly frameworks to prevent violence on a macro level on campuses.