“Reviewing the State of Safety in World Cities: Safer Cities +20” - Towards a Transformative Approach in the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda

General Information

Building on the urgency to advance safety and development in cities, the conference is a call to action to enroot integrated approaches to urban safety, crime prevention and conflict prevention as an integral part of city governance to assist national and local governments, mayors, technical city officials and societal actors to improve the quality of life of people.

The conference agenda will be guided by the SDG Goal 11 and 16 and towards the new urban agenda vision 2030. The conference will bring together representatives from national and local governments, criminal justice institutions and law enforcers, civil society organisations including women and youth organisations, academic experts and research institutions, the private sector, UN agencies and international organisations to discuss experiences of making cities safer. The event is organised by UN-HABITAT and UNECE, with assistance from the United Nations Office at Geneva and the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform. For registration and more information, click here.

Objectives

1. Assess the state of safety in world cities from different perspectives (urban safety, development, humanitarian, peace-building);
2. Key messages and action points on safer cities as part of the New Urban Agenda;
3. Key messages and action points for cities to ensure complementarity between urban safety policies and the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
4. Identify pilot cases for an integrated approach to urban safety and peacebuilding practice; and
5. Consolidate network relationships between the urban safety, peace-building, humanitarian, and business communities.

Expected outcomes and Outputs

1. A summary about the state of safety in world cities as a contribution to HABIAT III;
2. Key messages and action points to improve safer cities as part of the New Urban Agenda;
3. Key messages and action points to ensure complementarity between urban safety policies and the implementation of the SDGs;
4. At least 5 pilot cities to implement an integrated approach to urban safety and peacebuilding;
5. A strengthened network on urban safety cutting across government, local authorities, law enforcers, civil society organisations, academic experts, the private sector, and international organisations;
6. The foundation for a Global Centre of Excellence on Urban Safety, Governance and Prevention in Geneva to advance the research and networking between urban safety, humanitarian, conflict prevention, and business communities;
7. A pilot executive course for city mayors and urban safety focal points co-facilitated by the Graduate Institute, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the World Banks and IdeaBorn Foundation.

The conference will have the following outputs:

• A meeting report that summarizes the outcomes of the review conference;
• An e-platform that collects all material submitted to the review conference by cities and national governments;
• A network of at least 200 professionals working on the confluence of urban safety, peacebuilding, humanitarian and related practice.

Programme Agenda

Reviewing the State of Safety in World Cities - Programme Agenda

Contacts 

• Mr. Juma Assiago, Lead, Global Network on Safer Cities (GNSC), Safer Cities Programme, UN-HABITAT, Nairobi, juma.assiago@unhabitat.org.
• Dr. Gulnara Roll, Head, Housing and Land Management Unit, Forests, Land and Housing Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Geneva, gulnara.roll@unece.org.
• Mr. Salman Bal, Senior Political Coordination Adviser, Political Affairs and Partnerships Section, Office of the Director-General, United Nations Office at Geneva, sbal@unog.ch.
• Dr. Achim Wennmann, Executive Coordinator, Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, Geneva, achim@gpplatform.ch.