The role of urbanism and architecture in building pleasant environments that foster conviviality and a sense of safety has been developed as an area of violence prevention.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) strategies aim to influence the decisions made by potential offenders to avoid crime and criminal activity by modifying the urban environment and intervening in its characteristics to reinforce aspects such as increased natural surveillance, territorial appropriation, and expanded coexistence in collective spaces. In addition, it works integratively with grassroots communities, involving them in the process so that they become active natural watchmen and collaborate in urban security strategies.
Those interventions usually range from the implementation of street designs that organize flow possibilities to the improvement of public squares and spaces, the design of popular residential condominiums, and large urban improvement projects in social housing sectors and marginalized neighborhoods.