The role of place management in crime prevention : some reflections on governmentality and government strategies

Introduction: For the past fifteen years there has been an increasing emphasis on local, community-based forms of crime prevention (Oââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢Malley 1997). This emphasis has been part of a broader, although by no means all-pervasive, shift from state-centred forms of social control to forms of regulation developed and implemented at local levels by local governments. In turn, this has resulted in local government becoming increasingly responsible for various kinds of crime prevention strategies, plans, and audits. This has also involved the implementation of various forms of urban planning designed to ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“harden the targetsââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ of crime, to ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“reduce the rewardsââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ of crime, to ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“design outââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ crime, and the development of alternative activities and spaces for those who might engage in criminal activity. It is in the context of these new rationalities of crime control and prevention that we are increasingly seeing the implementation of various forms of ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“place managementââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢. Place management is a ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“whole of governmentââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ approach to social and spatial problems. As Untaru (2002:87) argues: Places are not just the spatial organisation of phenomena in a particular area, still less the physical landscape of buildings and natural forms. They also comprise meanings that embrace public perceptions, evaluations, rights and associations. Places are evaluated with respect to whether they facilitate peopleââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s place-based objectives. These place experiences may relate to spatial access, convenience, comfort, security, or to satisfying interruptions. Place management has recently been regarded as an innovation in governance. As a ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“community buildingââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ and crime prevention strategy originally adopted, in NSW at least1, by the New South Wales Premierââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s Department, it is gaining increasing support in political and academic circles and is being hailed as one of the governmentââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s best ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“defences against crimeââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢. Concurrently, some local governments are also taking the initiative and implementing their own place management programs. The focus of this paper is upon ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“conceptual issues place managementââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢, and the local government role in crime prevention more generally.