Research
on risky facilities consistently shows that a few places experience most of the
crime. Research has also shown that crime may radiate from risky facilities to
nearby places. Thus risky facilities may be generating wider spatial effects
than early research suggested. However, the reverse may also be true. Place managers—those
who control facilities—of low crime places can create radiating effects too.
Not only do they supress crime on their properties, they may also diffuse
prevention. This implies a need to understand the reverse of risky facilities;
it can help us reduce crime at places and across wider areas. In this
presentation, I argue that architectural journalist Jane Jacobs provides a
framework to do this. Her ideas centered on the role of place managers that
most criminologists have overlooked. Jacobs created a scalable explanation describing
how safety originates at shops, transforms streets, and stabilizes areas. It is
a bottom-up framework of city functioning and crime control. Her work shows
what place managers can do to combat risky facilities and extend their control
beyond the boundaries of their properties. She also shows how super
controllers, such as government agencies, can sway place managers’ decisions.
For policy, I explain how Jacobs’ work promotes police partnerships with place
managers to solve crime problems. I also outline strategies place managers can
use to create safe areas independent of police.