Cleaning Up the Neighborhood: Revitalization through Brownfield Redevelopment, Community Engagement, and Crime Prevention through Environmental Design

Integrated use of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED), focused community engagement, and brownfield revitalization in the urban core can achieve healthier—and more livable—sustainable communities.  Case studies from Richmond, California, and Spartanburg, South Carolina, allow presenters to identify how the use of CPTED strategies, combined with brownfield redevelopment initiatives and community participation, are reducing crime, improving quality of life, and increasing the use intensity of transportation and other existing infrastructure in disadvantaged, formerly industrial areas. Benefits of these efforts are measured in metrics including lives saved, jobs created, affordable housing produced, and mass transit ridership.  The session also addresses U.S. Department of Justice support of such efforts through the Weed and Seed Program and the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program.  Together, the panelists show why personal security is the first step to sustainability, as well as how improved community conditions can be fostered though environmental design, concerted community involvement, place-based policing, and focused economic development.