Site and Urban Design for Security

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has developed this publication, Site and Urban Design for Security: Guidance against Potential Terrorist Attacks, to provide information and design concepts for the protection of buildings and occupants, from site perimeters to the faces of buildings. The intended audience includes the design community of architects, landscape architects, engineers and other consultants working for private institutions, building owners and managers and state and local government officials concerned with site planning and design. This publication, FEMA 430, is one of a series that addresses security issues in high-population private-sector buildings. It is a companion to the Reference Manual to Mitigate Potential Terrorist Attacks Against Buildings (FEMA 426), which provides an understanding of the assessment of threats, hazards, vulnerability, and risk, and the design methods needed to improve protection of new and existing buildings and the people occupying them. Chapter 2 of FEMA 426 provides guidance on site layout and design and discusses architectural and engineering design considerations for risk mitigation, starting at the property line, including the orientation and placement of buildings on the site. This publication represents an expansion of Chapter 2 and focuses in more detail on information useful to the site security design team. In addition, this publication expands on Instruction Unit IX, "Site and Layout Design Guidance," in the Building Design for Homeland Security Training Course (FEMA E155) and also summarizes some of the concepts in Risk Assessment: A How-To Guide to Mitigate Potential Terrorist Attacks Against Buildings (FEMA 452). Some of the technical information on design against blast contained in the Primer for Design of Commercial Buildings to Mitigate Terrorist Attacks (FEMA 427) is also summarized. These publications are part of the FEMA Risk Management Series (RMS).