How could you have made High Density public housing WORK?

[Me2005]

Defensible space appears to be more targeted towards crime prevention though.....

That and creating a sense of ownership in the space. If you're in a long hall with 100 other families, you don't feel like it's your hall to do anything with, so when it gets destroyed you feel like it's someone else's deal. If you're sharing a small stair with 4 families, you likely bump into them and since your landing isn't being tramped by random people you've never seen, you're more likely to spruce it up, sweep it, and help maintain it without desecrating it. They'll also more likely call in a maintenance issue before it becomes major, since they don't feel like someone else will do it. Doing that over the entire project helps people feel connected to their property in a way that allows public housing to work better, though jobs and larger maintenance projects still need to be taken care of by outside forces.