Brett Hodgkinson recently earned his CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) certification, a significant achievement that blends safety with innovative design. To learn more about what this certification means and how it will impact his role as a technology designer, we sat down with Brett for a quick Q+A. Here’s what he had to say.

Q: What are the key components or strategies of CPTED that the certification focuses on?

The goal of CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) is to reduce opportunities for crime that may exist in the designs of structures or neighborhoods. CPTED focuses on four key areas: Natural Surveillance, Natural Access Control, Territorial Reinforcement, and Maintenance to reduce the risk of crime happening in these areas.

Examples that may fall under these categories include:

• The 2’/6’ rule means that landscaping should be maintained at 2’ or shorter, and tree branches should be 6’ or higher, reducing the possibility of an offender being able to hide in landscaping.
• Implementing see-through stairs to allow people using the stairs to see if someone may be hiding under a set of stairs.
• The addition of windows on a building that faces parking lots and garages increases the natural surveillance that tenants in the building would have over those areas.
• Implementing lighting design and wayfinding along sidewalks and paths to improve safety and visibility, specifically on trails in parks at nighttime.
• Adding traffic calming elements, which may help reduce speeding in high-traffic areas, such as speed humps and signage near schools.

Q: What motivated you to pursue CPTED certification, and how does it connect to your current work or interests?

Since joining the technology team at TowerPinkster, camera design and integration have been one of my primary focuses. Camera design is a good record of what happened during an incident and is generally referenced after an incident. Access Control is a good solution to prevent unauthorized users from accessing certain areas. CPTED focuses on both the natural environment and man-made structures that may help deter an intruder before even attempting to gain access to a building. Pursuing the CPTED certification felt like it paired well with the security camera design and access control designs we implement at TowerPinkster.

Q: What were some of the most surprising or eye-opening concepts you learned during the certification process?

What was eye-opening was realizing how every design on a building and its surrounding environment is intentional. The direction and look of a walkway to a main entrance of a building, the styles of benches that may be used along sidewalks, the style of stairs that are used, the kind of lighting that is used, whether or not a parking garage should have walls that you can see into, and so much more. It’s all intentional – some may be implementing CPTED values, and others may be an aesthetic choice and could use some CPTED improvements, but at the end of the day, every element was a conscious, intentional choice at one point in time.

Q: How do you see yourself applying CPTED principles in real-world projects or environments?

CPTED makes you see the world differently, especially in urban areas. I reside in a more rural area, and after completing the CPTED certification, I was in Grand Rapids for an evening. While there, I noticed that I was pointing out areas that could be potential spots for an assailant, and what could be done in that area to help people feel safer or be more aware of their surroundings.

I see myself applying this to real-world projects, especially early on in a project during initial site visits. I see that as a perfect opportunity to document areas that would be cause for concern and what an appropriate solution would be. I could also see the possibility of performing a CPTED Site Review for interested clients that would be explicitly focused on how to reduce the risk of crime and the feeling of fear.

Q: How is CPTED certification used in the AEC world?

CPTED can be implemented to make buildings and their surrounding areas feel safer. There are probably dozens, or maybe even hundreds, of solutions. Including the previously mentioned ideas, the following could also be implemented:

• Installing ceiling mirrors in corridors to allow for better visibility at intersections.
• Installing decorative bollards at buildings’ exteriors prevents motorists from colliding with the building. Art students could decorate Bollards at schools each year to keep them updated and refreshed.
• Gates and fencing around areas could be see-through to allow for increased visibility.
• Knee walls could be designed into a project, which would serve as both a barrier to an area and provide seating for social interaction.
• Stairs with a concealed area could have a locked gate to reduce the risk of an ambusher hiding in the concealed area.
• Many, many more!