How did you define these three threats? Why were these threats selected?

“We chose these threats because of our orientation as a human settlements agency. We looked at current threats to cities, the work that UN Habitat has been doing and the work that has been done by planning agencies all over the world. We tried to identify those threats which could be addressed from a human settlements point of view. That was the overriding reason why we focused on these three threats.”

“The bulk of the work in these fields really happens at the local level. That is where the work of implementing, early warning systems and response to households and communities takes place. But of course this all happens within a national framework, so the role of government in putting in place a framework for dealing with these threats, is important in terms of systematising approaches across cities in a given country. Also in terms of providing the necessary resources national governments are important, because in many situations, especially in developing countries, many local authorities are not able to address these issues without financial and human resources support from the government.
The international community has a very important role to play especially in highlighting solutions that deal with these threats. They should draw attention to solutions that appear to be working and produce results and facilitate the sharing of information on these solutions. However, they ought to also provide support in order to improve the performance of local authorities as well as the policy frameworks, especially within the developing countries.”

Mr. Mutizwa-Mangiza gives an example:´The United Kingdom police force provides support to the Jamaican police force to deal with crime, especially related with drugs. They help them with the international dimensions of international crime, right down to policing, and share some of the experiences that the UK has gained in how urban planning can incorporate some aspects of crime and violence. These different levels are very important and they should work in conjunction. The local level focusing more on the details of the actual work, the national and subnational level providing operational frameworks, and the international community sharing useful experiences and providing international support.”

“I would say the main difference lies in the different levels of poverty. The most important factor underlying the level of vulnerability to urban threats is poverty. To give an example in the area of disasters, our findings show that of the 211 million people affected by natural disasters annually from 1991 to the year 2000, 98 percent of these people were living in developing countries. This is a huge difference. Disasters do not discriminate. They occur more or less equally in developed and developing countries. But the impact is felt much more in developing countries because of their levels of poverty. You can extend the same argument to evictions and urban crime and violence. Of course the levels of affluence and poverty determine the levels of resilience of government, communities and of cities to actually address these challenges. Developed countries are much more able to deal with these threats and challenges because they have more institutions and resources. These are the key differences I would cite at this stage.”

“In the report we do not pretend to explain the fundamental causes of rising crime and violence, but several studies have suggested that in many countries the increasing levels of inequality between communities in cities tend to increase levels of crime and violence. However, reports also show that while on average there is an increase in crime, there is actually also a decrease in some countries. Some of the underlying reasons for that range from very effective responses to crime in some countries, to the mediation of religion and culture in others. Especially in the Middle East and some Asian countries for example cases such as robberies and armed violence are very low compared to other parts of the world.
Unemployment is also usually correlated with crime and violence. Where unemployment is increasing you will tend to also find increasing rates of crime and violence and vice versa. The case of the United States has often been cited in this respect. During the Clinton period, a lot of programmes were set up to increase employment. That period was actually associated with a significant decline in crime and violence. I would therefore say that the increase of crime rates evolves around unemployment, inequality, mediated by culture and religion.”

“From a human settlements perspective I would say that one important result of globalisation is that of social exclusion, because of increasing inequality. Globalisation is really one of the powerful forces that is resulting in polarisation. Those who are well-to-do are benefiting from the benefits of globalisation, but the poor are getting poorer as a result. There is a lot of evidence showing an increasing polarisation in cities as a result of globalisation. For example, in a typical developing country city which policy is to engage in the process of globalisation through export-oriented policies, the tendency is that the more educated and the more qualified people are the ones benefiting from globalisation. The uneducated people who cannot get into the types of jobs that globalisation is creating suffer, and they find themselves with lower and lower incomes. This is also true in developed countries, where the closure of some industries which are moving to less costly locations in developing countries. You find that it is only the educated who are able to get into the new jobs that are left in the service sector. People formally working in industry basically find themselves on the unemployment queue. So increasing polarisation can be directly linked to globalisation, and increasing inequality is one of the causes of crime. Going back to the situation in developing countries cities, one other field in which you actually see this polarisation happening is in housing.
In Nairobi where I am talking from, over the last ten years, gated communities have really sprouted and are spreading. The rich are retreating into gating communities where they are increasing their own security and the gap between the rich and the poor, between the gated communities and the slums, is just increasing. Again, this pushes the problem of social exclusion even further.”

What kind of solutions should thus be strived for?

“We should strive for solutions that range from economic to social policies and urban planning policies. I would also say that when cities are trying to engage with globalisation it really does not work to just focus on export and create all these export zones which are mushrooming all over in developing countries. It is also a case for cities to look at their local resources and local needs, and try to come up with policies that create jobs for local people to meet local demand, not just export demands. And in this way cities will be able to mainta in a certain proportion of jobs that are local in orientation as opposed to global in orientation. This means making the appropriate investments and not just improving infrastructure in export profiting zones for example. Infrastructure also needs to be improved where local people are operating small-scale industries; micro-enterprises in the informal sector needs to be supported. In Africa, about sixty percent of employment is actually in the informal sector. So that sector needs to be supported. It is made up of dominantly small enterprises and they could do a lot if electricity was made more available, access to water, sanitation transport etc. And just putting in place policy frameworks that are generally supportive instead of repressive. But the informal sector generally faces a wide range of repressive measures in many countries.”

Poverty is a key factor underlying vulnerability to crime and violence, tenure insecurity and evictions and disasters. Institutional capacity is an important factor in resilience and success of risk response, but also community participation plays a vital role in this respect. Urban policy, planning, design and governance play an overall significant role in enhancing urban safety and security. Tackling the three major threats defined in the UN-HABITAT Report requires an integrated approach that touches upon a wide range of policy fields.

For more information please refer to the article on the UN-HABITAT Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 in this Research & Practice Review, which can also be found in the e-library on the EUKN website.