Safety in Auckland city

Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED)

Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) is based on the concept that crime and fear of crime can be minimised through effective planning and designing of our built environment.

The safety of people within the city contributes to the liveability of the city and the extent to which the public use particular areas. The concepts of CPTED focus on the relationships between people and their environments; design aspects which make people feel safe (such as good lighting) act as deterrents to crime.

This programme covers the inner city, hot spot assessments throughout Auckland, the inclusion of CPTED principles into the District Plan of Auckland City Council, and safety accreditation for car park buildings. CPTED recognises the need for the integration of safety design principles into the planning, design, development, management and maintenance of the built environment and public spaces of Auckland City.

Change to the isthmus district plan

CPTED assessment will be applied to certain building developments listed as controlled and discretionary activities in the district plan that require a resource consent. However, the guidelines, Annexure 16 - Safety guidelines in the isthmus plan, are available so that individuals and private landowners can undertake their own assessments.

Activities triggering a safety assessment will be assessed against a range of safety criteria to ensure there is:

clear visibility and clear sight lines of building entrances and exits as well as public areas within a development
windows and doors overlook or interact with public areas
walls and fences at the street edge have sufficient transparency to allow informal surveillance
appropriate lighting of public and semi-public areas including paths, parking areas, plazas, building entrances and exits
no entrapment spots and areas that may isolate user of public areas from public view.

CPTED is not seen as a cure-all for crime prevention in the city, but will enhance built environments to assist in reducing opportunistic crime.

Find out more about Introduction to crime prevention through environmental design.

Also check the urban design strategy which outlines principles for good urban design and provides a number of strategic actions to be used by council to embed those principles in its policies and practices.