EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Sense of insecurity in Belgium: citizens’ perceptions and solutions

Sense of insecurity in Belgium: citizens’ perceptions and solutions

Introduction

The King Baudouin Foundation organised meetings in 34 places, each representing a different context, to take stock of citizens’ feelings of insecurity.

Description

Spread over a two-year period, the King Baudouin Foundation collected evidence from Belgian citizens on the current feeling of insecurity. It organised 34 so-called ‘listening hearings’ in different places (cities, villages in the countryside, hospitals, social housing estates, public transport etc.).

The hearings focused on the following three questions:

What are the citizens’ opinions on the sense of insecurity?
How do they describe this concept?
What solutions do they offer for this problem?

The material gathered at these meetings has helped to improve the understanding of what the sense of insecurity means nowadays.

Conclusions

Citizens’ perceptions of and opinions on insecurity are diverse. It is therefore important that the authorities, particularly the police, take citizens’ seriously and listen to their worries and complaints.
Inhabitants of cities feel more insecure than people that live in rural areas.
Urban policy makers are faced with two challenges:
1) facilitating a successful integration between old and new residents, particularly in multicultural neighbourhoods
2) narrowing the divide between the city and its surrounding ‘better’ neighbourhoods
A sense of insecurity needs to be dealt with at a local level, with the participation of the citizens.
Simple solutions are not adequate in the battle against insecurity. Authorities need to adopt an integral approach, which tackles all aspects of the sense of insecurity.

Contact info

Contact centre King Baudouin Foundation
Phone: +32 70 233 728
publi@kbs-frb.be

Publication date

09/03/2006

Researcher

King Baudouin Foundation

Links

King Baudouin Foundation Download 'Listening to people about insecurity. General report on feelings of insecurity' (in Dutch)Download 'Listening to people about insecurity. General report on feelings of insecurity' (in French)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Community development

Keywords

Citizens' participation