SAFE-CITIES ‘Security by Design’

SAFE-CITIES ‘Security by Design’

Welcome to the SAFE-CITIES training module on Security by Design. This course will guide you through theoretical principles, EU frameworks, and real-world applications of securing public space through integrated and inclusive design.

The SAFE-CITIES ‘Security by Design’ training modules are designed to equip urban planners, architects, policymakers and city officials with the knowledge and skills necessary to create urban spaces that prioritize safety and security, offering comprehensive information on the principles and practices to integrate security measures into urban planning.

The primary focus of this training is to address the design aspects of public spaces to protect urban centres from potential threats.

The training modules are structured to provide insights into security by design concepts in urban planning.

Participants will gain an understanding of how to integrate security considerations into the design and layout of public spaces, thereby fostering urban environments that are both welcoming and secure. 

Contents are organised into two main modules:

The introductory module conceptualizes security-by-design as stemming from design-for-all and adaptive urban planning; then it frames it in the major EU policies related to safety and security planning and management of public spaces vis-à-vis other relevant EU strategies and policies concerning public spaces and their inclusivity, accessibility and liveability.

This is followed by a breakdown, based on both the literature and best practices, of the various principles on which it is based: these include avoiding an oversensitivity to risk, consider the adoption of standardized urban furniture as well as ad-hoc protective measures, design climate mitigative environmental solutions. 

Module two introduces the second component of the security by design approach in SAFE-CITIES project: the so-called “Atlas 4 public spaces”, a tool aimed at operationalizing the security-by-design approach for the planning of safety measures in public spaces. The Atlas, inspired by the New European Bauhaus Compass, is articulated as a matrix with three different levels of attention: methodological approach, users’ engagement and physical interventions. For each level of attention, it identifies ambitions, that is to say, objectives based on the security by design principles; recommendations, to reach such objectives; guiding questions to further articulate the recommendations; and insights from case studies that are relevant to that specific domain of application.

The course is developed by University of Bologna (UNIBO), SAFE-CITIES consortium partner.

If you are interested in learning more about the SAFE-CITIES Security by design approach, please register for the e-course free of charge.

This e-course was developed within the SAFE-CITIES Risk-based Approach For the Protection of Public Spaces in European Cities EU-funded project.

Learn more about the SAFE-CITIES project here: link.

Funded by
the European Union