SafeGrowth: Moving Forward in Neighbourhood Development

Sustainable strategies for crime prevention rarely, if ever, find their way into the formal design and planning of urban places. This article illustrates how an alternative planning process SafeGrowth employs a more holistic style of neighbourhood development than occurs in traditional prevention theory. SafeGrowth is a shift towards a new style of prevention theory, one in which safe places emerge less from outside experts implementing strategies to or for neighbourhoods, and more from neighbours creatively planning with prevention experts, police and security. This article also provides a case study illustrating a practical example where SafeGrowth was applied in the planning of a troubled suburban neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada from 2000 to 2009. Crime reduction and increases in community involvement continue today suggesting this is an effective and sustainable method for developing, and redeveloping, urban places in the years to come.