Diffusing the Urban Time Bomb: Integrating Approaches to Build Peace in the City

Cities around the world are grappling with growing social fractures like criminal violence in ‘hot-spots’, exclusion from public services of specific groups or segments of society as well as violence against women and children in the household. This challenge is universal not confined to particular regions or countries. Despite an ever-growing professionalization in fields such as violence and crime reduction and prevention, drug policy, urban planning, policing, or public health, experience suggests that practice frequently remains within its respective silo.

In the context of the mobilization of cities behind the UN’s Sustainable Development Agenda – and specifically its Goal 16 – this session asks about the need and experiences of integrating approaches across sectors. Can integration of such practice offer new opportunities – or does it mean new risks? How does one do integration? And what can be realistic policy goals of an integration agenda for specific city contexts?