An explorative study of environmental design and crime: a case study of Merebank, Durban.

Abstract

Despite the lapse of twenty-seven years since the abolishment of apartheid in South Africa, the effects of segregationist policies on the demarcation of residential areas based on race and the associated design of built environments have endured. History-based conversations regarding inadequately designed built environments have generated the debate as to whether these environments have the potential to contribute to crime causation. Therefore, this research aimed to investigate the impact of apartheid-generated environmental design on crime causation in the residential area of Merebank in Durban, South Africa. As Merebank is regarded as a previously disadvantaged area that was developed under the apartheid regime, this community was deemed appropriate for an investigation to achieve the aim of this study. A review of related literature indicated that property crimes correlate with disorderly built environments where crime prevention strategies are seldom considered or employed. The study was thus motivated by frequently reported incidences of property crime that affected the residents of Merebank. In alignment with this goal, this study explored the Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) model to reduce and prevent crime, whilst perceptions of fear of crime were also investigated among community members. To ensure that the goals of this study would be achieved, a qualitative interpretive methodological approach was adopted. The main data collection instrument was semi-structured interviews that were conducted with 15 lifelong residents of Merebank. The majority of these people had resided in the community throughout the apartheid era and beyond. The participants were selected by means of purposive sampling and thematic data analysis was performed. It was found that crime causation in Merebank was perpetuated by apartheid zoning and the existence of an inadequately designed built environment. The main finding of this study surprisingly indicated that residents of Merebank had felt safer in this area during the apartheid era. This was attributed to the control that was imposed upon the movement of citizens as a result of the implementation of the Group Areas Act1 No. 41 of 1950 (Parliament of South Africa, 1950). Moreover, current-day crime prevention was largely attributed to private security companies and not to the South African Police Service, whereas social cohesion varied amongst Merebank neighbourhoods. CPTED was barely understood and thus rarely utilised by members of the community, while their prevalent fear of crime and perceptions of criminal activities were perpetuated as a result of the inadequately designed built environment and, more particularly, the zoning of this residential area based on race in the apartheid era.