Using Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) to Evaluate Western Washington University’s Dormitories

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) was built on the foundational concept that the environment can influence human behavior. I investigated how the dormitories on Western Washington University\u27s campus measure up to Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) parameters and how student’s perceptions of safety correspond with identified design features of the dormitories. Specifically, will students report feeling less safe in areas that fail to meet CPTED parameters then in areas that do encompass them? There are three foundational concepts from which I drew my evaluation strategies. These three concepts are, territorial definition, natural surveillance, and access control. I modified a CPTED checklist for dormitories that focuses on the above three concepts (based on a checklist made by Fennelly & Crowe, 2013). I used this checklist to evaluate the interiors and exteriors of ten dormitories on campus. Based on this analysis I selected, two areas that did not meet CPTED standards and two areas did meet these standards. In a within-subjects design, I had Western Washington University undergraduates, walk through each area and fill out a short survey about their feelings of safety while in each area. The results indicated that students feel less safe in areas that fail to meet the standards of CPTED as laid out in the checklist as compared to areas that do compare well to the checklist. This evidence shows that the CPTED checklist is a useful tool to evaluate the safety of dormitories