Politics, Business & Culture in the Americas

Safe Streets, Safe Cities

Reading Time: < 1 minuteAcross Latin America, military-led anticrime strategies are losing ground to newer concepts such as community policing.
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Security and sports: Police patrol Rio de Janeiro’s favelas after Brazil wins the Olympic bid in 2009. Photo: Luis Camacho/AFP/Getty.

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Discussions of sustainable cities tend to focus on environmental goals such as developing eco-friendly architecture, recycling, and improving the resiliency of urban infrastructure systems. But public or citizen security is an equally important aspect of building a sustainable city. Often, it is the issue that tops the list of citizens’ concerns—and with good reason.

Violent drug cartels, extreme poverty and inequality, high unemployment rates for young men, and the illegal trafficking of small arms and light weapons have kept Latin America one of the most violent regions in the world.

Discussions of sustainable cities tend to focus on environmental goals such as developing eco-friendly architecture, recycling, and improving the resiliency of urban infrastructure systems. But public or citizen security is an equally important aspect of building a sustainable city. Often, it is the issue that tops the list of citizens’ concerns—and with good reason…



Tags: Brazil, Citizen Security, Crime and Security, El Salvador, Venezuela
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