Urban Safety Governance Approach

UNODCITY URBAN SAFETY GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE

the approach

The Urban Safety Governance Approach emphasises the need for an in-depth understanding of how a wider set of localised risk factors interact with illicit external flows to give rise to safety challenges. It highlights the need for context-specific responses which seek to reverse risk factors to re-establish legitimate governance, reduce inequality and promote inclusion and individual and community resilience. The approach provides policymakers a framework within which to address an intersection of global threats and local dynamics in order to seek out what builds resilience.

Latest News

The Report on the Urban Safety Governance Assessment in Iztapalapa, Mexico City - Iztapalapa is characterized by being the most populated borough in Mexico City, as well as the one with the youngest population given that the average age of its inhabitants is 31 years old... Read more

Community Leadership in Urban Safety Governance Assessments - Deacon’s Farm, St. Michael, Barbados – Kevin Bishop is an example of a community leader in Deacon’s Farm. As a boy, he grew up participating in various community clubs and afterschool activities at the local community centre, which at the time, was a special project (the Deacon’s Development Project) initially funded by the United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime... Read More

The Report on the Urban Safety Governance Assessment in Mathare, Nairobi City - The assessment aimed to identify local challenges and opportunities related to urban safety and good governance and develop appropriate strategies and policies... Read more

Newsroom

The Urban Safety Governance Approach will lead to four main outcomes: 1) Identification of local challenges and priority areas of intervention; 2) Integrated strategy and policy development; 3) Enhanced capacity of officials and institutions at the local and national level; 4) Greater coordination and partnerships between all stakeholders.

The first step of the Urban Safety Governance Approach is the Urban Safety Governance Assessment. This Assessment broadens the scope of the traditional safety audit to examine not only issues related to crime and victimisation but also a wide range of other issues including but not limited to corruption, illicit transnational flows, preventing violent extremism, and health-centred drug prevention, treatment and care. Thematic areas covered by the analysis would vary according to the specific city context and the priorities identified by the local partners.

Using an integrated and participatory approach, the Safety Governance Assessments will support local governments, and other relevant authorities, in identifying institutional strengths and weaknesses, priority issues and developing strategies to prevent and address risks to urban safety and good governance.