Co-designing out crime

Abstract

This paper discusses the co-design process developed in the Winter School, a course run by the Designing Out Crime (DOC) research centre at the University of Technology, Sydney. Projects undertaken in this course address crime prevention from a holistic, designerly perspective that contrasts with traditional approaches such as crime prevention through environmental design. The design collaboration at the Winter School involves partner organisations, the DOC team and students, all of whom work together to develop innovative design concepts that improve community well-being and safety. This paper illustrates, using three project examples, the advantages and challenges of applying the co-design process in the domain of socially responsive design.

Keywords:

• collaborative design
• crime
• design thinking
• reframing
• CPTED
• shared knowledge

Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Kees Dorst, Associate Professor Douglas Tomkin and Rodger Watson for their advice, support and input in the preparation of this paper.