School-based Violence Prevention in Urban Communities of Latin America and the Caribbean

Ensuring the feeling of safety and trust among children, adolescents, teachers and families in the school space should be the challenge of authorities in all countries of the region. This challenge has been the motivation to create this document; its objectives are to disseminate knowledge and concrete tools for the design of school spaces and their environmental characteristics, promote the school community’s participation in this process, and contribute to improving the perception of safety and reducing opportunity crimes in schools.

This document refers to preschool, school and university educational spaces. On the one hand, it is based on the study of educational spaces in Latin America and the Caribbean, and on the other hand, on concepts of the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) methodology. This crime prevention strategy, which considers spatial as well as community elements, has formed part of many comprehensive initiatives in different countries of the region. The circumstances of each country are different, and thus the nature of the CPTED approach can be easily adapted to the particular needs and limitations of each country. In this context, the aim of these recommendations is to contribute, based on practical experience and on local and international studies, to the development of a working methodology that can serve as a helpful input to safety needs in school spaces in Latin America and the Caribbean.