Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

Urban crime and violence: Policy responses
91
the difficulties with strategies produced for large and diverse
areas can be finding mechanisms that enable priorities to be
pursued and actions targeted in ways that not only meet
strategy objectives, but that are also appropriate on the
ground. This particular example of a set of grant programmes
is an interesting way of trying to address this particular
issue.
■ Integrated development plans in the
province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
The second example is the process of preparing integrated
development plans in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (South
Africa). 26 This is not specifically a crime prevention initiative
as such, but a process of integrating crime prevention issues
within the planning process in order to improve quality of
life and enhance the safety and security of citizens. Here the
responsibility for preparing integrated development plans
rests with the 61 municipalities rather than with the
province. However, the province performs a variety of
functions to support municipalities and to guide the process.
The integrated development plan is essentially a management
tool that sets out the municipality’s vision, objectives,
strategies and key projects, and the intention of the act
establishing this process is that the provisions of the
integrated development plan will shape the way in which the
local authority performs.
The importance of this example is that it demonstrates
two characteristics that are not always to be found in
work at this level of government: the commitment to a
strategic approach, and the importance of thinking holistically
about problems, rather than seeking to tackle them
through independent streams of action. In addition, it is now
a requirement throughout KwaZulu-Natal that integrated
development plans covering the major urban areas must
include both crime prevention policies and women’s safety
audits. 27 Integrated development plans offer a strategic
vehicle for taking a holistic view of crime and violence, for
embedding the actions needed to address it in the everyday
work, and for mainstreaming these activities as part of
agreed priorities. For example, the integrated development
plan for the eThekwini Municipality for 2002 to 2006
sought to commit its community services plan to facilitate
the implementation of the Durban Safer Cities strategy by
ensuring that:
• The council facilitates intergovernmental cooperation
with regard to the design and implementation of a Safer
City Plan to be operationalized at the local level.
• Effective social crime prevention programmes exist.
• A security-conscious environmental design is adopted.
• A highly visible and effective policing service exists.
• Partnerships to increase community involvement in
crime reduction are supported.
• Community education regarding crime prevention is
improved and expanded upon.
• Security in targeted areas (such as transport routes and
tourist areas) is improved through various measures,
including surveillance cameras. 28
The integrated development plan initiative in KwaZulu-Natal
offers an example of how government at provincial level
guides and assists the review of a strategic process in order
to make the end product as appropriate and effective as
possible. It is also an interesting example of how tackling
crime prevention and public safety needs to be seen in a
broad strategic context as an integral element of the process
of municipal management.
■ State of Florida: Safe Neighborhood Act
The final example relates to the role of state legislation in
providing for needs that are specific to a given area. The
State of Florida has enacted Chapter 163.501, Florida
Statutes, commonly called the Safe Neighborhood Act. It is
based on legislative findings that the ‘proliferation of crime’
is one of the principal causes of the deterioration in business
and residential neighbourhoods in the state. The act further
declares that the safe neighbourhoods are ‘the product of
planning and implementation of appropriate environmental
design concepts, comprehensive crime prevention
programmes, land use recommendations and beautification
techniques’. 29 Under the provisions of the act, local governmental
entities are empowered to develop, redevelop,
preserve and revitalize neighbourhoods using public funds
that may be ‘borrowed, expended, loaned and granted’. 30
For implementation purposes, the act defines a safe neighbourhood
as falling within an ‘improvement district’, which
means an area in which more than 75 per cent of the land is
used for residential purposes, or in an area in which more
than 75 per cent of the land is used for commercial, office,
business or industrial purposes, excluding the land area used
for public facilities.
To be eligible for funding, the district must include a
plan to reduce crime through the implementation of CPTED,
environmental security or defensible space techniques, or
through community policing innovations. The act provides
districts with corporate powers, including the ability to enter
into contracts, to accept grants and property, to make street
and infrastructure improvements, and to raise funds by
special assessments (following referendum), and provides
other powers and responsibilities normally given to governmental
agencies. Matching grants are available to the
districts from the state up to US$100,000. Neighbourhood
councils comprised of local citizens are authorized to
monitor the implementation of improvement plans and to
report violations to the governing bodies (which may be city
or county commissions). Furthermore, the act requires that
all improvement districts:
• Collect crime data in the district using surveys and
other research techniques.
• Provide an analysis of crimes related to land use and
environmental and physical conditions of the district,
giving particular attention to factors that support or
create opportunities for crime.
• Formulate and maintain short-range and long-range
projects and plans that crime-to-environment analysis,
including surveys and citizen participation data, has
determined are applicable.
It is now a
requirement
throughout
KwaZulu-Natal that
integrated
development plans
covering the major
urban areas must
include both crime
prevention policies
and women’s safety
audits