*[PICTURE PG 23]*
Notice the maze-like quality, and the long, dark hallways that showcase rows of identical closed doors. If a building is owned or rented by a wealthier clientele, there is at least one guard or a doorman at the main entrance, and perhaps an additional alarm system. Tenants walk the hallways with some sense of security because they assume that the doorman will only let certain people (or certain kinds of people) into the building. If a building is for lower-income families, it is doubtful one will find any security system other than an individual triple-bolted door on each apartment. The survival strategy in this maze is to get from the street to one's own single-family fortress as quickly as possible.
In response to the safety nightmare created in most apartment buildings, Oscar Newman presents an alternative model which he calls "defensible space". It looks something like this: *[PICTURE PG 9]*
In this model, individual dwellings are clustered around a communal space, such as a lawn or a meeting room. This space is clearly demarcated, and clearly visible from each dwelling. The idea is that the people in the individual dwellings will feel a sense of responsibility for the common space. Because there is more than one person or family responsible for the area, there is a greater likelihood that someone will be watching it at any given time. A criminal, in order to get to any of the living spaces, would have to cross into the clearly demarcated communal space, and then break into the individual dwelling, all without being seen by any of the neighbors.
Due to increasing demands on space and the environment, apartment buildings are getting taller and more space efficient, often at the expense of safety in terms of fires, earthquakes, and in particular, criminals. The average apartment building is designed something like this.