Inclusive and Safe Cities for the Future: A Criminological Analysis

Abstract

Cities have long been of interest to international development as well as to criminology. Historically, criminology as a social science emerged as a response to urbanisation and the new opportunities created by cities for criminal activity and victimisation. Thus, Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11), which ‘aims to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’, is ripe for criminological input and analysis. SDG 11 tackles housing and basic services, transport systems, urban planning, cultural and natural heritage, disaster prevention, environmental impact, and safe, inclusive, and accessible green and public spaces. There has been ample criminological research on crime and victimisation in various types of human settlements, on transport systems, on the looting and trafficking of cultural heritage, on crimes associated with natural disasters and on the importance of public leisure areas for crime prevention. Yet many of the above goals, as well as the recommendations emerging from these bodies of research, conflict with each other, and must be problematised in their aim to be inclusive of all. Women and children, the elderly and persons with disabilities are usually the reference groups for inclusion, but globally, there are many other groups, including racial and ethnic minorities, indigenous communities, and LGBTQI individuals that are commonly excluded. The chapter will analyse SDG 11 against the evidence base of urban criminology as well as the challenges for inclusion, given diversity both within-country as well as globally.

Citation

Rodriguez-Spahia, D. and Barberet, R. (2020), "Inclusive and Safe Cities for the Future: A Criminological Analysis", Blaustein, J., Fitz-Gibbon, K., Pino, N.W. and White, R. (Ed.) The Emerald Handbook of Crime, Justice and Sustainable Development, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 223-241. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78769-355-520201014