DESIGNING OUT CRIME IN SOUTH KOREA

Socially Responsible Design (SRD) is to widen discussion about ethical approaches designers, architects and engineers can take in order to help ‘design out’ crime from society (Gamman, 2007). Specifically, CPTED is a philosophy and practice which aims at socially responsible design to significantly reduce crime within communities. Also, despite criticisms concerning the apparent lack of evidence to support this approach, CPTED or Designing Out Crime is an increasingly fashionable crime prevention approach which is being implemented on a global scale (Cisneros, 1995). This paper will explore the route taken by South Korea in the last 18 years to develop an environmental approach to crime prevention. Furthermore, this paper will illustrate the growing interest and investment in CPTED by private enterprises and public policy makers, as well as discussion on the challenges that architects, police and researchers face resulting from a series of local trials.