THE RELATION BETWEEN CRIMINAL ACTIVITY AND ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN IS INFLUENCED BY NUMEROUS VARIABLES, ONE OF WHICH MIGHT BE DENSITY. EXPERIMENTS SHOW THAT AN OVERCROWDED ENVIRONMENT LEADS TO PATHOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR IN RATS (AGGRESSIVENESS, INCREASED MORTALITY, SEXUAL DISORDERS). IN STUDYING THE INFLUENCE OF THE CROWDED URBAN ENVIRONMENT ON HUMAN BEHAVIOR, RESEARCHERS MUST BE AWARE THAT DENSITY IS NOT THE ONLY CRIMINOGENIC FACTOR. SEVERAL RECENT STUDIES ANALYZE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN 'DENSITY' AND CRIME STATISTICS IN VARIOUS URBAN CENTERS (HAMBURG, BERN), DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN 'INTERNAL DENSITY' (NUMBER OF PERSONS PER ROOM) AND 'EXTERNAL DENSITY' (DENSITY OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT, NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS PER SQUARE UNIT). THESE STUDIES CONCLUDE THAT THE (1) EXTERNAL DENSITY IS NOT AN IMPORTANT FACTOR WITH RESPECT TO CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, (2) INTERNAL DENSITY IS FAR MORE SIGNIFICANT (IN PARTICULAR, EACH INDIVIDUAL IN A HOUSEHOLD SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST ONE ROOM INTO WHICH HE CAN WITHDRAW), AND (3) DENSITY APPEARS AS A CRIME FACTOR IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS (E.G. LOW INCOME). MORE DETAILED STUDIES SHOULD PROBE THE REACTIONS OF VARIOUS GROUPS OF THE POPULATION (MALE, FEMALE, JUVENILE, ELDERLY ETC.) TO THEIR CROWDED ENVIRONMENT. THE ARTICLE IS SUPPORTED BY STATISTICAL CHARTS AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY. --IN GERMAN. (SAJ)