Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

This part of the <strong>Global</strong> <strong>Report</strong> explores promising policy
responses to the three major threats to urban safety and
security reviewed in Parts II, III and IV. It specifically builds
on the international, national and local policy and practice
trends identified and discussed in Chapters 4, 6 and 8 – that
is, on crime and violence, security of tenure and forced
evictions, and natural and human-made disasters, respectively.
There can be little doubt that there is considerable
scope for further development in policies and practices for
reducing urban crime and violence. Chapter 10, the first in
this part of the report, discusses policy responses and
practices designed to address the threat of urban crime and
violence that, on the basis of experience to date, could be
further pursued in the future.
The ‘traditional’ approach to problems of crime and
violence, which is to see them as the primary responsibility
of the police and the criminal justice system, is increasingly
being replaced by an approach that recognizes that the
complexity of the phenomena being addressed requires a
broad-based response. There is considerable scope for
further development of this approach. Nonetheless, it is
important that the police and the criminal justice system are
‘fit for purpose’ in the modern world, and are seen as key
contributors to the fight against crime and violence.
Improvements and reforms in these ‘traditional’ areas are
essential and should primarily be driven by central governments
in most developing countries. Such improvements
should be seen as complementary to the newer approaches
being developed in ‘non-traditional’ fields, and appropriate
linkages should be developed between all of these activities.
The main ‘non-traditional’ or newer approaches
explored in Chapter 10 include enhancement of urban safety
and security through effective urban planning, design and
governance; the development of community-based
approaches to enhancing urban safety and security; reduction
of key risk factors by focusing on groups most
vulnerable to crime; and strengthening of social capital
through initiatives that seek to develop the ability of individuals
and communities themselves to respond to problems of
crime and violence, provide economic, social, cultural and
sporting opportunities, and improve the environment in
ways that assist these processes. The combination of several
of these approaches – all of which are specially suitable for
implementation at the local level – into a systematic
programme, driven by a broad strategy and based upon a
careful understanding of the local context, seems more likely
to be successful than the ad hoc application of individual
initiatives.
The preferred mechanism for supporting this broadbased
approach is usually the partnership mechanism; but to
be fully effective, partnerships need to address a series of
questions about their operation, and partners need to buy
fully into the spirit of partnership. Central and local governments
can play a key role in providing an enabling
environment and framework for partnerships to flourish.
The best institutional structures for implementing such
programmes or initiatives are likely to be those that succeed
in getting the key players involved in delivery together in
ways that get them not only to commit to the programme,
but also to explore how the mainstream work of their own
agencies can contribute to the overall effectiveness of these
initiatives. Local authorities will often be the most appropriate
leaders of such structures. Local communities need to be
as fully involved as possible in these processes, not only in
terms of consultation, but also as generators and implementers
of projects. Capacity-building is a fundamental part
of work to address crime and violence at the local level. The
approach adopted towards capacity-building activities needs
to be as broadly based as possible, and to respond to the
capacity-building needs of professional groups, partnership
members and local community members.
The transfer of ideas from elsewhere can be very
valuable, but it needs to be thought about carefully in the
particular circumstances in which it is intended to apply
them. It cannot be assumed that ideas that have worked in
one part of the world will necessarily work elsewhere. There
are no one-size-fits-all solutions, and there is no substitute
for a careful study of the particular situation in order to
determine the most appropriate course of action.
There needs to be a greater level of commitment to
evaluating crime prevention programmes, as well as more
open reporting of evaluation results, including areas where
problems have been experienced. This is an area where civil
society and independent non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) can play a key role. This is because much that is
done in the area of crime and violence prevention is either
not evaluated, is assessed in the most perfunctory manner,
or is declared to be successful without much, if any,
evidence to support such claim. An important point that is by
no means always recognized is that valuable lessons can be
learned from what has not gone well, as well as what has
succeeded.
International support of various kinds can help cities,