Since the very beginning of its experience LabQUS has questioned itself on how to assess the level of security - real and perceived - and space management in relation to physical characteristics.
The result, after years of study starting off from a major task of security analysis in what was then “Zone 17” in Milan, is the creation of an evaluation method based on indicators.
The “LabQUS Method”, a tool that then became the basis of the European norm UNI/CEN TR 14383-2, is based on the study of the area and its aspects of urban planning, building and management. These are then analysed by means of a series of indicators whose interpretation enables the assessment of the security level of places that already exist or are in the planning stage.
The evaluation is useful for orientating both the planning and the action on existing portions of the city. It is built up starting off from information of a qualitative and quantitative nature that is formulated from judgements of specifically trained professionals supported by modelling tools.
The prevalence of quality-type indicators requires that the evaluation and - to the same extent - the analysis stage are carried out by specialists in reading the area and in the correct interpretation of the data.
The definition of the set of indicators needed, which is unique for each area of study, makes up the first moment in which the evaluator’s ability is a quality element.
LabQUS’s evaluators - whom we like to call “urban observers”, in the spirit of Jane Jacobs - go through a long training period in order to reach the very high level of expertise needed.
