The revival and recovery of Italy's great cities after the barbaric Dark Ages was a result of building defensible gated communities as protection against criminal and anti-social elements. In time the barriers came down.

Defensible Design and Gated Communities                                        Back To Ideas for Camden

Any neighborhood design that fails to give a 360 degree view of safety and security will not be very conducive to attracting residents or business's.  Gentrification, New Urbanism, Urban Renewal are all worthy causes, but not at the risk of loss life, limb or property. 

In the worst cities nothing less than gated and / or defensively designed communities and defensively designed business districts will work to provide a sufficient level of comfort. However, gated-communities and defensively designed business districts with controlled access for security are considered so revoltingly anti-ethical to poverty service and social engineering leaders, as well as pandering politicians  in some areas that they would rather see their City fail without them than succeed with them, regardless of the fate failure consigns to residents.

Gated communities are not only the norm in some areas, but also the most desirable places to live. Malibu Colony and Bel Air in the Los Angeles area have been gated since the 1920's and are the most exclusive and expensive residential neighborhoods in the nation, supplying an inordinate amount of property taxes to the local government. Even on the edge of some undesirable neighborhoods in Los Angeles, historically gated communities have held their values while surrounding un-gated communities on all sides have gone down to blight and ruin. Crime is virtually non-existent in gated communities. No one complains about gated communities in California. In fact they thank goodness for them.

In Isolated Cities where the crime rate is high or perceived to be high, gated communities are a necessity. Defensively designed communities can be established for existing neighborhoods as well as new. Defensive design works best for neighborhoods with distinct borders. A neighborhood association should be formed to decide borders and poll residents to gauge the desire for a manageable, livable zone. If a majority approves, the plan should be presented to the local Planning commission and funds sought.

The borders decided upon should constitute an area spacious enough that no one feels penned in or conscious of the borders. The borders should be pleasing to the eye from either side. Defining a neighborhoods borders creates common cause, a sense of shared experience and community, stimulates civic activities, participation and civic pride.

Modern defensible neighborhood design can be implemented with beautiful landscape or architecture in ways that link to surrounding areas as the extended hand of a friend. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of The World decorated that city's defensible border. Crime can be managed to extinction, giving residents the quality of life they deserve. As crime plummets in defensively designed areas, real estate values quickly rise.

"Physical design does have a place in building community and fighting crime; our choices in architecture, street layout, landscaping and design, and lighting all can help neighborhoods to protect themselves from threats. But these physical design choices are best used to facilitate and encourage social, community responses."   - NATIONAL HOUSING INSTITUTE

"Several studies suggest that ease of access to outsiders is among the strongest predictors of burglaries. Measures that restrict the ease of physical access into buildings or the neighborhood, making it more difficult to enter unobserved, have been successful in reducing crime."
                                                                   
                                                        - Municipal Research and Service Center of Washington

Crime Prevention Design Offers Low Cost Alternative

"Instead of gated neighborhoods, some communities have achieved impressive results through neighborhood and architectural design techniques that reduce the opportunity for crime and the need for expensive fortification measures. Effective safety design guidelines have been developed for use in Canadian cities, such as Toronto, through the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design approach promoted by Timothy D. Crowe and through techniques pioneered by Oscar Newman."                  - Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

 90% of Rancho Mirage consists of gated communities
DRAFT – JUNE 2005 CITY OF RANCHO MIRAGE GENERAL PLAN PAGE X-11