Swansea Metropolitan University - Fighting crime with good design - 6 June 2008
Safer Sustainable Cities - Hosted by Swansea Metropolitan University in partnership with the Design Against Crime Research Centre. Co-organized by Chris Thomas and held at The Grand Reading Room in the Welsh School of Architectural Glass, Swansea, Wales.
The seminar attracted the attention of the local authorities and focused on designing out crime. Swansea City was awarded EU funding to redevelop the city centre infrastructure which includes the cycling links into and within the city. It focused not on detective work or CCTV but on cutting-edge design. Lorraine Gamman, a keynote speaker at the Safer Sustainable Cities event at Swansea Metropolitan University, is director of the Design Against Crime Research Centre at the University of the Arts London. She said: “Crime-proof designs make products more sustainable, as they become harder to steal, and so we don’t need to keep replacing them.”
Lorraine Gamman and Adam Thorpe Design as Socially Responsive Design, to the Research Community at Glasgow School of Art. With full reference to bike crime and anti theft bike design and Bikeoff research projects. A warm reception from a lively group of researchers and potential future links for research collaboration.
Lorraine Gamman and Adam Thorpe presented to GLA, TfL and CCoE on Design Against Crime’s review of Anti Terrorist Bike Parking Strategy - it seems that counter terrorism agendas DO NOT prohibit bike parking although some architects quote “security considerations” when asked why no parking is provided. With careful consideration designers can provide for cyclists AND avoid increasing risks of terrorism.
Lorraine Gamman and Adam Thorpe contributed an article that discussed bike bombs called “Profit from Paranoia - Design Against ‘Paranoid’ Products and Liberty Versus Safety: A Design Review – papers at the European Academy of Design (EAD 07): Dancing with Disorder: Design, Discourse, Disaster, Izmir, Turkey. The papers were published as part of conference proceedings.
Staged at the Reinventing the Bike Shed Exhibition, as part of the London Architectural Biennale, these seminars, organised and hosted by Bikeoff sought to identify and share best practice in relation to anti cycle-theft strategies and cycle parking provision. Papers from crime prevention and cycle parking practitioners from London, Amsterdam and Barcelona were presented.
For further information (programme, venue directions etc) please see:
http://www.amiando.com/LBFFseminar.html
.
.
.
.
.