Building for Burglars?
This paper reports on a study conducted into the factors, other than location, which influence homebuyers to purchase a particular property. The study was prompted by a consistent failure over time by private housing developers to embrace the principles of the Association of Chief Police Officers ‘Secured By Design’ (SBD) award scheme, or even the major elements of that scheme, to ensure parity of security with newly built social housing. Many private housing developers have expressed the view, without supporting evidence, that they avoid building to SBD standards because the majority of house buyers regard a property with enhanced security as one that has reduced appeal. It has been these developers' expressed opinion that purchasers equate enhanced security with high-crime areas, and would therefore be turned off by rather than attracted to an SBD property. Without evidence to the contrary, developers have had little incentive to adapt their building practices, and individuals concerned with crime reduction have been unable to offer a convincing argument for them to do so.
Design and Crime: Proofing Electronic Products and Services against Theft
This paper introduces the work of Project Marc (an EU-funded project to develop mechanisms for assessing the risk of crime) and discusses both difficulties encountered throughout the project and progress made since the project ended. The authors introduce the papers contained within this special edition and summarise their relevance to crime-proofing. The paper discusses progress made within this field in the decade prior to Project Marc and makes recommendations to ensure that the ideas move forward.
Urban Identities and Catastrophe: Izmir and Salonica at the End of the Ottoman Empire*
Two huge fires dramatically influenced the urban development of Salonica and Izmir, in 1917 and in 1922, respectively. These catastrophes occurred after the Ottoman Empire fell, and Salonica and Izmir had shifted into new national contexts. The fires mainly destroyed the districts that were transformed during the late‐Ottoman period. These districts became the cosmopolitan façades of modern Izmir and Salonica. The post‐fires' tabula rasa provided an opportunity for Greek and Turkish politicians and European planners to change the urban identity of both cities. Moreover, the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 transformed their multicultural societies also. Reconstruction plans had been thought to de‐Ottomanize and remove the previous idea of the towns and their multiplicity, interpreting new cultural and nationalist feeling. Here, I emphasize how modernity was interpreted before and after the fires, and point out contradictions between ideological aspects of planning and how the first urban districts were built during the 1920s.