Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

92
Urban crime and violence
Legislation by itself
is often not enough,
and that attention
needs to be paid to
the processes of
implementation and
to the resource
needs that these
imply
One of the biggest
issues facing cities
in developing
countries where
crime and violence
are major problems
is their capacity to
cope
• Prepare and implement safe neighbourhood improvement
plans, including modifications to existing street
patterns and removal, razing, renovation, reconstruction,
remodelling, relocation and improvement of
existing structures and facilities.
• Coordinate with other agencies providing relevant informational,
educational and crime prevention services.
• Ensure that all capital improvements within the district
are consistent with the capital improvement elements
of the applicable local government comprehensive plans
(Florida requires all local governments to prepare
comprehensive plans). 31
This example illustrates two points that are particularly
significant. The first is the importance of legislative powers
wherever they sit in the structure of governance within a
country. The second is that legislation by itself is often not
enough, and that attention needs to be paid to the processes
of implementation and to the resource needs that these
imply. The latter arises because sufficient funds have not
been made available to implement the provisions of the
act. 32 Indeed, the implementation of the act has been
hampered by low levels of funding from the Florida
Legislature. Consequently, only a relatively few communities
across the state have been able to take advantage of its provisions.
Nevertheless, its comprehensive crime prevention
elements serve as a model for other jurisdictions in the US
and elsewhere.
It is important to recognize that these examples show
many levels and a wide range of possibilities at each level.
Under these circumstances there is clearly scope for confusion
about who does what, and room for under-performance
created by inadequate liaison, coordination and communication.
Multilayered approaches exist for good reasons and are
an inevitable consequence of multilayered governmental
structures; but it is important that the scope for approaches
of this nature to create barriers and to underachieve is recognized
and is vigorously addressed.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF
STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
As Chapter 3 has demonstrated, it is rather simplistic to
equate the level of development of a country with the
existence of a problematic scale of urban crime and violence.
The examples discussed above show that crime and violence
can be a major problem in the urban areas of the developed
world. To this, it should be added that this is often the
perception of their citizens, even when, in comparison with
other countries, crime and violence may not be particularly
high. 33 Similarly, while it is clear that in some developing
countries urban crime and violence are a major problem, this
is by no means always the case in all developing countries.
Nevertheless, there are several examples of developing
countries where urban crime and violence are not only a
major problem, but affect economic development. It is also
the case that the level of development in a country (e.g. in
terms of its processes of governance and the availability of
skilled staff to operate them effectively) may affect the
ability of that country to tackle problems of this nature,
which creates a vicious circle requiring systematic intervention.
One of the biggest issues facing cities in developing
countries where crime and violence are major problems is
their capacity to cope. This sense of having the ‘capacity to
cope’, which is part of resilience, can be seen in several
dimensions, some examples of which are as follows:
• Are the police and the judiciary willing and able to do
their classic jobs of law enforcement so that the rule of
law generally prevails?
• Does the political process (the nature of which varies
hugely in cities across the world) recognize the range of
functions that need to be involved in addressing crime
and violence issues, and is it committed to doing so?
• Are the functions noted above broadly free from corruption,
and where there is evidence that corruption might
exist, is there a clear commitment to tackling it?
• Are the skills needed to support initiatives of this kind
available to the process of governance in the city, and
where there are shortfalls of this nature, are these
identified and addressed?
• Is there a willingness to recognize the importance of
community-based initiatives in tackling crime and
violence issues, and a consequent willingness to make
resources available to support community-level activities
and to consult with communities fully and openly?
• Do agencies and communities work in genuine partnership
with each other to ensure that their combined
efforts work to maximum effect, preferably driven by a
clear and agreed strategy?
• Is there an acknowledgement that tackling urban crime
and violence has to be seen as a long-term commitment
and is not the territory of ‘quick fixes’?
These are not the only questions that arise when thinking
about the ‘capacity to cope’ and resilience of systems of
urban governance in this context; but the studies that have
been done to date suggest that they are the kinds of
questions that many cities in the developing world have
struggled to answer in the affirmative. If this is not done,
the gains will, at best, be short term since fundamental
problems of lack of capacity in urban systems of governance
will continue to cause problems that will probably undermine
short-term achievements. It should also be
remembered that there is a lot of evidence from studies,
mainly in the Western world, that many elements of the
criminal fraternity are highly adaptive. 34
What this means, in practice, is that it cannot be
assumed that gains in terms of improvements in tackling
crime and violence on the part of the process of local governance
will not be matched by adaptive responses by local
criminal elements. This is one consideration that needs to be
factored into the notion of improving local capacity as being
a long-term commitment. Many of the examples that are
used in the rest of this chapter are, therefore, about (or
incorporate elements of) improving the capacity of processes
of governance at the urban level to address issues of crime