But the blanket application of SBD standards tends to create a threatening environment, particularly in poorer areas.
Not long ago, I was shown around an award-winning housing estate in east London, which was the proud recipient of a Secured by Design (SBD) award.
SBD has its roots in the idea of "defensible space", created by the American architect and town planner Oscar Newman in the early 1970s, as a result of research he carried out in three deprived New York housing projects.
Both in the US and in Britain the idea of defensible space was very popular because it provided a simple solution: rather than engaging with complex social relations as the underlying causes of crime, SBD promoted the idea that environmental design was the biggest influence on behaviour.
Despite caretakers appearing to be much more effective in building community trust than the installation of CCTV, gating and door entry systems, they are not acknowledged by SBD, which is a blunt instrument, incapable of adapting to complex unintended consequences.
For example, in schools and public buildings the first step of SBD is a crime risk assessment, which is about the local area.
This is because security has become a prerequisite of planning permission as a result of SBD, which is a design policy that has the blessing of the police.
Today, SBD is based on a combination of defensible space ideas and the purchase of security products, strongly backed by the insurance industry, which provides lower premiums for properties with SBD.
Administered by the Association of Chief Police Officers, SBD is funded by the 480 security companies that sell the goods needed to meet the required standards.
Newman's considerable influence led to the adoption of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design in the US, the design policy that was imported as SBD into Britain, where it began life as a regional crime reduction initiative in the late 1980s.
In addition to such fighters as the F6F, the Zero, and modified Spitfires and Hurricanes, notable carrier aircraft of the war included dive bombers such as the U.S. Douglas SBD Dauntless and the Japanese Aichi 99 as well as torpedo planes such as the Grumman TBF Avenger and the Nakajima B5N.
