Effectiveness of a project applying crime prevention through environmental design in an urban area in South Korea

With increased attention being paid to Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) in crime-prone areas, a demo-project was mounted in Mapo-gu Yeomri-dong in South Korea to reduce crime rate and fear of crime. Preceding studies on the project have assessed only reduction in fear of crime, by surveying residents and non-residents; the present study uses actual incremental crime data from target areas before and after CPTED application to identify change in crime rate, using the quantitative analysis method WDQ. Results illustrate that theft decreased where CPTED was applied but increased in nearby areas, while violent crime increased in both types of area. These results show that CPTED reduces the rate of property crime but has no effect on violent crime.