Cover image for Enhancing urban safety and security : global report on human settlements 2007
Title:
Enhancing urban safety and security : global report on human settlements 2007
Publication Information:
London ; Sterling, VA : Earthscan, 2007
Physical Description:
xxxii, 448 p. : ill. ; 30 cm.
ISBN:
9781844074754
General Note:
Published in association with UN-Habitat

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30000010254164 HT151 E54 2007 f Open Access Book Book
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Summary

Summary

Enhancing Urban Safety and Security addresses three major threats to the safety and security of cities: crime and violence; insecurity of tenure and forced evictions; and natural and human-made disasters. It analyses worldwide trends with respect to each of these threats, paying particular attention to their underlying causes and impacts, as well as to the good policies and best practices that have been adopted at the city, national and international levels in order to address these threats. The report adopts a human security perspective, concerned with the safety and security of people rather than of states, and highlights issues that can be addressed through appropriate urban policy, planning, design and governance.


Author Notes

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the agency responsible for coordinating human settlements issues within the United Nations system. It promotes economically productive, socially inclusive and environmentally liveable cities, towns and rural settlements, as well as adequate shelter for all. The Global Report on Human Settlements is the most authoritative and up-to-date global assessment of human settlements conditions and trends. It is an essential reference for researchers, academics, public authorities and civil society organizations all over the world. Preceding issues of the report have addressed such topics as Cities in a Globalizing World, The Challenge of Slums and Financing Urban Shelter.


Reviews 1

Choice Review

This stimulating UN overview of contemporary issues of global citizen stability, vulnerability, risk, and protection should interest readers far beyond its evident primary role as a reference source within the rich series of publications from the Human Settlements Programme. Carefully planned and accessibly written, the 450-page volume begins with a synthetic and conceptual overview that could itself easily underpin an exciting seminar. The main text focuses on three major themes: crime and violence, security of land tenure (especially forced and market evictions in cities), and the impact of disasters, natural and human-made. Each section clearly depicts the global scope of problems, offers rich case study materials, and provides inserts on specific issues and a sense of citizen agency/perception. A cogent complementary chapter reviews policies that have been tested worldwide in dealing with each issue. All three discussions come together in an extensive overview with concrete but far-reaching guidelines toward building safer and more just cities. The book includes summaries of case materials and a long statistical annex that make it invaluable as a source of comparative data and a gateway to more advanced work for students, scholars, and citizen/activists. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. G.W. McDonogh Bryn Mawr College