Alterations to the Physical Environment

Summary

The risks associated with specific environments can be reduced through changing the design of the setting. Because substance misuse problems have a close nexus with crime and violence, a coalition working on environmental strategies naturally would urge law enforcement to target specific settings where drug sales and use are visible. Drug-related crimes can be reduced using environmental strategies and, when properly implemented, can improve the safety and livability of specific areas or whole neighborhoods. Strategies that focus on changing physical design want to modify the conditions that give rise to criminal behavior.

Communities have used measures designed to change the physical environment in which drug sales have been occurring—such as cutting back shrubbery in parks, improving lighting, and boarding up abandoned buildings—to make locations less conducive to the drug trade. Such strategies have been borrowed from the broader crime- prevention field where research has shown that changes to the physical environment can help deter many forms of economic and personal crime. Environmental modifications may be relatively inexpensive and easy for communities to implement.

Communities must consider how changing the physical design will work and if it can provide overall protective measures to increase public safety. Abandoned houses and other buildings can become havens for drug trafficking, drug use and other crimes. In areas where this is a problem, policy can be enacted that requires the community to board windows and doors of abandoned properties to maintain safe conditions. A better approach would include a comprehensive set of strategies to improve affordable housing, organize residents to improve the physical appearance of their properties and deter open air drug markets (CADCA, 2010).

This strategy includes the following options:

Physical design changes through formal policies to maintain the process

• Cutting back or eliminating foliage that provides cover for drug sales
• Increased lighting at drug sale hotspots
• Cleaning up properties that are used for drug use
• Securing vacant buildings
• Altering access routes and restricting parking
• Re-claiming public areas

Core Components

Dosage/Frequency
Dosage and frequency will be decided dependent on the type of change the community focuses on. This dosage will need to be reviewed and approved by the Agency.

Required Key Steps

All policies developed or strengthened through this strategy must be formally written, signed by the community leadership and kept on file at the contracted agency as documentation. Contact the Agency Project Director/Coordinator for additional grant requirements about this documentation.

In collaboration with the coalition and community partners, complete the following:

• Review data related to the location of drug activity and if alterations to the physical environment would assist.
  • Engage law enforcement in this process.
• Review community policies related to any concerns discussed.
• Engage community officials to discuss options.
  • This strategy cannot only temporarily address alterations to the physical environment but needs to also include policy efforts (new or revised) to address concerns.
  • The University of Kansas Community Toolbox has a variety of options for physical environment alterations depending on the issue in the community.
• Utilize the 8 P’s for policy change efforts.
• Review ways to engage the broader community residents in this effort.
• Once a policy has passed, in collaboration with the community leadership:
  • Create a plan to educate the community about the policy.
  • Create a plan that will ensure ongoing monitoring of use and enforcement of the policy.

Implementation Resources

Responses to the Problems of Drug Dealing in Open-Air Markets – Modifying the Physical Environment
The Coalition Impact: Environmental Prevention Strategies
Alcohol Sales & Community Events Community Action Kit 

References

Birckmayer, J., Fisher, D. A., Holder, H. D., & Yacoubian, G. S. (2008). Prevention of methamphetamine abuse: Can existing evidence inform community prevention? Drug Education, 28(2), 147-165. https://doi.org/10.2190/DE.38.2.d