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92Urban crime and violenceLegislation by itselfis often not enough,and that attentionneeds to be paid tothe processes ofimplementation andto the resourceneeds that theseimplyOne of the biggestissues facing citiesin developingcountries wherecrime and violenceare major problemsis their capacity tocope• Prepare and implement safe neighbourhood improvementplans, including modifications to existing streetpatterns and removal, razing, renovation, reconstruction,remodelling, relocation and improvement ofexisting structures and facilities.• Coordinate with other agencies providing relevant informational,educational and crime prevention services.• Ensure that all capital improvements within the districtare consistent with the capital improvement elementsof the applicable local government comprehensive plans(Florida requires all local governments to preparecomprehensive plans). 31This example illustrates two points that are particularlysignificant. The first is the importance of legislative powerswherever they sit in the structure of governance within acountry. The second is that legislation by itself is often notenough, and that attention needs to be paid to the processesof implementation and to the resource needs that theseimply. The latter arises because sufficient funds have notbeen made available to implement the provisions of theact. 32 Indeed, the implementation of the act has beenhampered by low levels of funding from the FloridaLegislature. Consequently, only a relatively few communitiesacross the state have been able to take advantage of its provisions.Nevertheless, its comprehensive crime preventionelements serve as a model for other jurisdictions in the USand elsewhere.It is important to recognize that these examples showmany levels and a wide range of possibilities at each level.Under these circumstances there is clearly scope for confusionabout who does what, and room for under-performancecreated by inadequate liaison, coordination and communication.Multilayered approaches exist for good reasons and arean inevitable consequence of multilayered governmentalstructures; but it is important that the scope for approachesof this nature to create barriers and to underachieve is recognizedand is vigorously addressed.THE SIGNIFICANCE OFSTAGES OF DEVELOPMENTAs Chapter 3 has demonstrated, it is rather simplistic toequate the level of development of a country with theexistence of a problematic scale of urban crime and violence.The examples discussed above show that crime and violencecan be a major problem in the urban areas of the developedworld. To this, it should be added that this is often theperception of their citizens, even when, in comparison withother countries, crime and violence may not be particularlyhigh. 33 Similarly, while it is clear that in some developingcountries urban crime and violence are a major problem, thisis by no means always the case in all developing countries.Nevertheless, there are several examples of developingcountries where urban crime and violence are not only amajor problem, but affect economic development. It is alsothe case that the level of development in a country (e.g. interms of its processes of governance and the availability ofskilled staff to operate them effectively) may affect theability 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 developingcountries where crime and violence are major problems istheir capacity to cope. This sense of having the ‘capacity tocope’, which is part of resilience, can be seen in severaldimensions, some examples of which are as follows:• Are the police and the judiciary willing and able to dotheir classic jobs of law enforcement so that the rule oflaw generally prevails?• Does the political process (the nature of which varieshugely in cities across the world) recognize the range offunctions that need to be involved in addressing crimeand 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 mightexist, is there a clear commitment to tackling it?• Are the skills needed to support initiatives of this kindavailable to the process of governance in the city, andwhere there are shortfalls of this nature, are theseidentified and addressed?• Is there a willingness to recognize the importance ofcommunity-based initiatives in tackling crime andviolence issues, and a consequent willingness to makeresources available to support community-level activitiesand to consult with communities fully and openly?• Do agencies and communities work in genuine partnershipwith each other to ensure that their combinedefforts work to maximum effect, preferably driven by aclear and agreed strategy?• Is there an acknowledgement that tackling urban crimeand violence has to be seen as a long-term commitmentand is not the territory of ‘quick fixes’?These are not the only questions that arise when thinkingabout the ‘capacity to cope’ and resilience of systems ofurban governance in this context; but the studies that havebeen done to date suggest that they are the kinds ofquestions that many cities in the developing world havestruggled to answer in the affirmative. If this is not done,the gains will, at best, be short term since fundamentalproblems of lack of capacity in urban systems of governancewill continue to cause problems that will probably undermineshort-term achievements. It should also beremembered that there is a lot of evidence from studies,mainly in the Western world, that many elements of thecriminal fraternity are highly adaptive. 34What this means, in practice, is that it cannot beassumed that gains in terms of improvements in tacklingcrime and violence on the part of the process of local governancewill not be matched by adaptive responses by localcriminal elements. This is one consideration that needs to befactored into the notion of improving local capacity as beinga long-term commitment. Many of the examples that areused in the rest of this chapter are, therefore, about (orincorporate elements of) improving the capacity of processesof governance at the urban level to address issues of crime