EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - UN-HABITAT Global Report on Human Settlements 2007: Enhancing Urban Safety and Security

UN-HABITAT Global Report on Human Settlements 2007: Enhancing Urban Safety and Security

Introduction

The world has witnessed increasing numbers of threats to urban safety and security in the last decade. This is one of the conclusions of the 'UN-HABITAT Global Report on Human Settlements 2007'. Although the report states that many of these threats have taken the form of dramatic events, many have also been the manifestation of the nexus of urban poverty and inequality with the physical, economic, social and institutional conditions of slums.

Description

The UN-HABITAT Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 focuses on three major threats to the safety and security of cities:

Crime and violence
Insecurity of tenure and forced eviction
Natural and human-made disasters

According to the report, especially the urban poor in the world are disproportionately effected by the three threats to safety and security discussed. Worldwide trends with respect to each of these threats are analysed, paying particular attention to their underlying causes and impacts.

Overall, the report states that improving urban safety and security requires an integrated approach. In order to improve the situation of people living in cities, a wide range of measures is proposed. The report emphasises the role of urban policy, planning, design and governance in enhancing urban safety and security. While addressing the different ways the main problems in the report can be tackled, various case studies are applied to illustrate what is good practice and why.

The role of local communities and their involvement in urban affairs is stressed for each of the three main issues. Partnerships between public, private, non-governmental and local residents’ organisations are said to be very important. Also the formulation of improved policy and legislation is mentioned regularly along with increased international cooperation and aid.

ISBN: 978-1-84407-475-4

Contact info

UN-HABITAT
Naison Mutizwa-Mangiza (Chief of Policy Analysis & Author of the 2007 Report)

Publication date

14/11/2007

Article info
Organisation: UN Habitat

Links

For more information about the report or to order, please click here

Document type

policy

Themes

Urban Policy

Keywords

Housing