Safety and urban design - the role of CPTED in the design process

Purpose - Urban design, in conjunction with the older, more established disciplines of architecture and town planning, is increasingly important in shaping the built environment. Urban designers are required to consider a broad array of issues, crime and safety being among them. For various practical and projectrelated reasons, crime and safety issues can be given cursory attention. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is an invited opinion piece and comment based upon the specialist knowledge and expertise of the author working within the field of urban design. Findings - Learning from environmental sustainability and the manner in which such issues are now routinely embedded into urban design processes, the paper argues that a combination of regulation (i.e. legislation, policies and design guidelines) and ongoing professional development for built environment professionals are required to ensure that crime and safety issues are given due consideration. Originality/value - Practical examples will be used to illustrate this argument, including reference to a design guideline operating in New South Wales (Australia) and lessons learned (and challenges experienced) from a mixed- used development project in inner-Sydney.