Crime-fighting Co-Design 

Since good design promotes safety and deters crime, Yeoksam-dong in Seoul’s Gangnam district collaborated with a team of designers to create a number of cost-effective devices in public spaces, which improve safety and the quality of life in the neighbourhood. The criss-crossing streets and alleyways connect low-rise residential housing for singles as well as small businesses, so there is a permanent issue with petty crime and nuisance. 

Since the neighbourhood is both residential and commercial, illegal parking regularly obstructs the poorly illuminated narrow side streets and back alleys, making walking at night unsafe. More serious crimes such as break-ins and voyeurism affect the basement flats where mostly single young men and women live, and few resources are available for better security measures. As the residents tend to be transient and interact less with their neighbours than other age groups, they do not share the same sense of community, and so there are many vulnerable victims of petty crime. 

Community Participation

Unlike initiatives where policy-makers decide what should be done in Yeoksam-dong to fight crime from the top down, the design team conducted field surveys, face-to-face, and convened remote town hall meetings with residents. Thanks to Korea’s world-leading high-speed internet, joining a meeting from one’s own home or workplace was key to community participation in this fragmented neighbourhood, and residents were able to identify problem spots and the issues they faced every day, and brainstormed with designers to seek solutions. 

Small Improvements for Huge Impact

The team developed a number of cost-effective, tried and tested strategies. To protect basement flats, shutters were installed on street-facing windows. For apartment buildings with a small front yard, tall perennials were planted, and small energy-saving lights were installed at waist level. The plants give more privacy to residents, and the lights improve security. Together, these seemingly small improvements make the streets feel more orderly, and managed, and signal human presence, deterring crime. Newly fitted, motion-triggered lighting improves illumination, and emergency call alert buttons have also been installed. Bulletin boards were set up at garbage disposal and recycling collection points, allowing residents to share community and safety information, create a sense of belonging, and encourage people to take care of the neighbourhood and one another. Bulletin boards as signposts also make community safety features more visible, and give residents a sense of security and order. 

Since then, robberies, thefts, and break-ins decreased by about 30% in 2022 compared to 2021, and noise complaints by 14.4%. A residents’ satisfaction survey shows 94% awareness of the project, and 85.6% of respondents agree that it has had a positive result in the community. This success will serve as an example of safety improvements worldwide.