brotttåligheten

Brotttåligheten is a Swedish term that translates roughly to “robustness against crime” or “crime resistance.” It is used primarily in the fields of urban planning, architecture and security studies to describe the degree to which a building, neighbourhood or public space is designed or managed to deter criminal activity. The concept is closely related to crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) but has a distinct terminology and methodology within Swedish research and practice.

The theoretical basis for brotttåligheten originates from the 1960s and 1970s urbanist efforts in Sweden, particularly the work of the Swedish Ministry of Housing and the National Police. Early studies linked physical characteristics such as natural surveillance, territoriality, access control and maintenance to reduced opportunities for crime. Over time, these ideas were formalised into quantitative assessment tools. The most common instrument is the brotttålighetsindex, a score that rates specific design features on a scale from low to high protection. Fields such as real‑estate assessment, public safety audits and municipal planning use the index to compare properties and to guide modifications aimed at raising crime resistance.

Brotttåligheten is applied in many contexts: gated housing developments use territorial markers to anchor residents’ sense of ownership; single‑family homes are assessed for visibility of windows and proximity to public streets; public squares are evaluated for lighting and spatial openness. In each case the goal is to reduce concealment opportunities and to increase legitimate presence, thereby raising the perceived risk of offenders.

Critics of the approach note that broad socioeconomic factors—such as unemployment or social exclusion—cannot be fully mitigated by environmental design alone. Nevertheless, brotttåligheten remains an influential framework for prescriptive design guidelines and policy recommendations aimed at fostering safer built environments.