Security
Building Secure Yet Welcoming Public Spaces
Strategies for securing public spaces from vehicle attacks and other acts of terrorism without sacrificing accessible, vibrant urban places.
The Link Between Urban Design and Crime
A meta-study shows that public realm interventions can help reduce crime rates.
Designing Safer Cities
For women and other vulnerable groups, navigating the urban space can be fraught with real and perceived dangers.
Urban Design Through a Gender Lens
Building cities to be safe and accessible for women and LGBTQIA+ people has benefits for all users of public space.
Airport-Style Body Scanners Coming to L.A.'s Rail System
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be it the first in the country to deploy body scanners on its rail system.
Beacon / Bunker
Kris Graves photographs all 77 NYPD precincts from Tottenville to Edenwald, looking to these buildings—sometimes humble, sometimes imposing—for the face and footprint of law and order in the neighborhood.
Keeping Our Children Safe After the Parkland High School Shooting
In the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Florida, the debate has been wide-ranging, from gun safety to arming teachers. All agree students must be safe, so why not look at architecture? The NRA has some tips.
Dallas Area Rapid Transit Commits to New Security Measures
The DART Board of Directors has ordered the expansion of police and security patrols at transit stations in Dallas, while also considering investments in new surveillance technology on light rail lines.
Pedestrian Barriers Installed on London's Bridges Endanger Cyclists
In the wake of two terrorist attacks on London bridges that killed pedestrians, concrete barriers were installed on three crossings to prevent repeat rampages. The only problem is that they were installed in bicycle lanes.
Pedestrians Need Protection from Motor Vehicles Used as Deadly Weapons
As of press time on Friday, the death toll from the Nice Bastille Day massacre is 84, injuries exceeding 200, a record for an act of alleged terrorism committed by a single person. It also sets a record for death by the use of a motor vehicle.
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: White House Edition
The security cordon around the country's most famous residence is growing taller and stronger, again.
Op-Ed: Facial Recognition on Transit Goes a Step Too Far
Despite its insistence that the technology would only target criminals, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) should reconsider using facial recognition software to address crime. The potential for abuse may be too high.
Rail Stations Shortchanged as Homeland Security Focuses on Airports
Rail travelers are not subject to the same degree of security measures as air travelers according to security experts, reports Ron Nixon for The New York Times. Yet far more travel by rail than plane, and rail has been a terrorist target abroad.
Security Issues Raised for U.S. Commuter and Intercity Trains
Friday's foiled attempt by an alleged terrorist to massacre civilians on a Paris-bound, high-speed Thalys train has raised fears that a similar attack could be launched on one of America's lesser-speed trains. Are current security measures adequate?
Terror On-Board European High-Speed Train
Massacre on a Paris-bound train was averted in France on Friday due to the courageous actions of three Americans, one in the Air Force another in the Oregon National Guard, who rushed and subdued a Moroccan man armed with an AK-47 and a handgun.
Hacking Traffic Lights with a Laptop
A study by computer scientists from the University of Michigan shows how easy it is to hack and control traffic lights.
Black Friday Ops
When millions of Americans venture forth from their food comas tomorrow to their nearest mall, the shopping environment may have changed from last year. By design, most shoppers are unlikely to notice the increased security measures.
Low Crime Rates In Large Cities Support Multi-Modal Planning and Smart Growth
Contrary to popular assumptions, large, transit-oriented cities have lower crime rates than smaller, automobile-oriented cities. Jane Jacobs was right! This column discusses this phenomenon and its implications for transport and land use planning.
Hope for Healed Urban Fabric Dashed by Security Concerns at Former Trade Center Site
After the World Trade Center attacks, planners, neighbors, and Mayor Bloomberg supported reweaving the site into the city's street grid, in the process undoing "a painful planning error of the 1960s." Security concerns seem to have won out, however.
Camera Cultivation: Urban Security in the Austerity Age
In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, Eric Jaffe explores how cash-strapped cities will handle terrorism. "The short answer is public surveillance cameras. The long answer is smarter public surveillance cameras."
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
