Safety and Security
There are so many personal and pragmatic reasons to create sustainable neighborhoods that it’s hard to list them all. But the one that may affect us most – because it accesses the oldest regions our of brains – is safety and security. In our increasingly volatile and uncertain modern world, sustainable neighborhoods can be islands of peace and stability.
Because of higher densities and mixed uses, a constant level of activity provides ‘eyes on the street’ throughout most hours. When people are out and active, the conditions of isolation in which street crime thrives are vastly reduced. Likewise, when people know and look out for their neighbors, intruders stand out and are much more easily dissuaded from committing crimes.
In communities intentionally designed to support social justice and equity, poverty and disaffection – the primary drivers of crime – can be vastly reduced, and perhaps even eliminated. The most likely predictors of criminal behavior are failure in school, family problems and substance abuse, and the primary perpetrators of crime are young men aged 15 – 24. Communities in which young people are known, valued and affirmed, provided positive role models and offered healthy options for activities can help offset most of these.
Community-based schools using child centered, ‘brain compatible’ curricula and instructional models can engage and challenge young people, which vastly increases school success and retention rates. Awareness and caring by neighbors, mentors and extended families can help identify at risk children. Co-located and integrated children and family services in mixed use / mixed income neighborhoods can provide ready access to needed interventions. And immersion in the supportive environment of a sustainable neighborhood can afford young people a safe context to work through problems and learn healthy behaviors that open life-long positive avenues.
Sustainable neighborhoods can also be what security analysts refer to as, ‘resilient communities’. These communities are far better able to withstand the shocks of the modern world, from oil price fluctuations to climate change. Because their infrastructure is ‘distributed’, it is far less susceptible to disruption, and its scale is too small to provide a viable target for terrorist attacks or criminal extortion.
Sustainable neighborhoods that produce their own energy are largely immune to outside disruptions, whether caused by failure of the regional grid – such as occurred during the northeast blackouts in North America – or attacks on oil production, transport and refining facilities. The same is true of local food production, local water catchment, reuse and treatment, local waste treatment and local health care. Local economies that rely primarily on serving local residents are also largely immune to outside financial manipulations or crises such as the ‘sub prime’ lending fiasco.
In times of uncertainty and increasing chaos and complexity, security comes less from armies and weapons, and more from distributing essential systems to reduce their vulnerability; creating local economies that are relatively independent of global forces; and strengthening the social networks on which we rely for support and assistance in times of need.
Local Food Greenhouse - Julie Dean photo
In a world of pandemics, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and climate change, there is no truly ‘safe’ place. But there is the reassurance and hope that comes from sharing a positive vision and working together to call it into being, and from the trust and faith that emerges from deep connections and strong relationships.
While there is no certainty about the future, we can take comfort and assurance in the fact that whatever does happen, we will work through it together, with courage, compassion and commitment.
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