Security Aspects of Urban Planning and Design — “The European Model”

Abstract

The permanent development and modernization of urban infrastructure over the last few decades have been crucial in increasing the vulnerability of the community.The need to minimize security risks (urban violence, terrorist attacks) is particularly pronounced when urban planning and designing everyday social environments. The goal pursued by urban planners is to create a positive security atmosphere (perceptual or realistic) through strategic partnerships and cooperation policies between municipal, city and national levels of government. This model (so-called: “European model”) of urban planning has been implemented in several European countries (such as Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom ) to improve the quality of living conditions in populat-ed urban areas. Urban planning and design implies the analysis and incorporation of safety security elements in the form of specific functional barriers in the public space. Using sophisticated comput er software( Vulnerability Identification Tools for Resilience Enhancements of Urban Environments, VITRUV), urban planners can accurately identify and analyze security risks and their damages, and offer the right solutions. The aim of this paper will be to describe the security aspects of urban planning and design, and the efficient use of public space to improve the security situation with minimal disruption to everyday social ativities.