Designing for school safety through CPTED and biophilic concepts

If you don’t feel safe, whatever the reason, you’re not going to thrive. Secure academic campuses and facilities align their safety protocols with the perspective of their users. It’s a balancing act to create schools that are refuges -- places where our learning communities feel a simultaneous sense of security, welcomeness, freedom of expression, and growth. Educators and students should be enabled to focus their attention on teaching and learning without the burdensome distraction of crime prevention.

The design of academic environments can help to avert crime by offering early detection through surveillance, territorial reinforcement, controlled access, and quicker response times during distress. A school’s design can facilitate early warning, offer places of refuge, and provide paths for escape. School design can also facilitate community engagement through design and programming.

Read the full article in School Construction News.