Researching-the-Urban-Dilemma-Baseline-study

activated, and collective action achieved. Community engagement is not just an add-on, but an essential
feature of the social contract and legitimate governance in most urban settings affected by chronic violence.
International and national development agencies often struggle to find effective ways to identify, support and
empower communities. Often they rely on intermediaries – whether public institutions or local nongovernmental
entities. But the legitimacy of these intermediate actors, the modalities of community
engagement, and the political and social dynamics of cooperation are seldom parsed apart. Moreover, the
ways in which intermediaries are themselves influencing or affected by urban violence are also underexamined.
Finally, the implications of overzealous external engagement is also known to negatively influence
community participation in complex ways, including by reducing local leverage in response to newly
empowered nodes of authority. There is a need for more research on local strategies of cooperation,
cooptation and resistance in relation to urban violence, particularly amongst the poor.
A future over-the-horizon agenda on urbanization, urban poverty and urban violence is critical
There is little doubt that the issues of urbanization, urban poverty and urban violence are preoccupying
military and development establishments and affected governments. There is also evidence that the urban
dilemma may well intensify in some parts of the world, including in cities where hyper-urbanization is
occurring and comparatively limited research is being undertaken. Researchers are becoming increasingly
aware of the challenges. The emergence of new methodological approaches – from geo-spatial tools to social
media and new information technologies – promises to expand the repertoire of lenses available, hopefully to
positive effect. But as specialists grapple with today’s challenges, there is a risk that they miss out on
tomorrow’s catastrophes.
While not addressed at length in this paper, both climate change and new forms of health-related pandemics
are both real risks confronting cities. The apparent increase in extreme weather events and other natural
hazards risks driving up (rural-urban) population displacement and new patterns of inter-urban migration.
Urban disasters and related violence are already starting to dominate the agendas of humanitarian agencies,
possibly serving as a canary in the mine. 373 In the meantime, over-crowding, poor-living conditions, and
reduced access to clean water and sanitation in mega slums may generate unprecedented health emergencies
including outbreaks of communicable diseases. Related risks include food insecurity (high prices, food
shortages, lack of safety nets), already demonstrated as a threat. 374 These and other “stress bundles” deserve
more attention in the years to come.
373 See Muggah with Savage (2012).
374 See Cohen and Garrett (2009).
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