Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is an internationally recognized, standards-based approach that uses the design and management of built environments to reduce crime, lower fear of victimization, and improve quality of life in communities. Contemporary CPTED integrates first-, second-, and third-generation principles, combining territoriality, surveillance, access control, target hardening, and geographical juxtaposition with attention to social connectedness, public health, and sustainability. While CPTED has been widely applied in countries such as the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, South Korea, and Australia, systematic applications and evidence-informed audits remain limited in many contexts, including Caribbean states experiencing high levels of violent and property crime. Recent mixed-methods CPTED projects have demonstrated the value of combining GIS-based hotspot analysis, structured environmental audits, and community/native-expert perspectives to understand how environmental features shape patterns of criminal opportunity and insecurity. Against this backdrop, this session seeks to mobilize cross-sector stakeholders around practical, research-informed design strategies that strengthen safety and resilience at the neighborhood scale. 

Many communities across the RSS member states face persistent crime and insecurity in residential and commercial areas where environmental design unintentionally facilitates victimization and undermines informal social control. Yet planning, infrastructure, and security decisions often proceed without systematic CPTED assessment, underutilizing tools such as GIS hotspot mapping, structured field protocols, and community-derived “native expert” knowledge about local risk and resilience. The proposed symposium provides a platform to translate state-of-the-art CPTED research into actionable guidance for planners, security agencies, and community organizations. By foregrounding prevention-oriented design, the event aims to shift policy discussion from reactive enforcement to proactive, evidence-based environmental interventions that can be embedded in planning codes, infrastructure investments, and policing strategies.