The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The World Bank 2011
“……For millions of people around the world, violence, or the fear of
violence, is a daily reality. Much of this violence concentrates in urban
centers1 in the developing world. These cities are home to half of the
world’s population and are expected to absorb almost all new population
growth over the next 25 years
In many cases, the scale of urban violence can eclipse that of open warfare.
Some of the world’s highest homicide rates occur in countries that have not
undergone wars but have violence epidemics in their urban areas. Concern
over these experiences has made urban violence a central preoccupation of
policymakers, planners, and development practitioners
This study emerged from a growing recognition that urban communities
themselves are an integral part of understanding the causes and impacts of
urban violence and for generating sustainable violence prevention initiatives.
Participatory appraisals in Latin America and the Caribbean have produced
important insights into the manifestations of violence in different contexts.
Nevertheless, much still is to be learned in understanding the myriad strategies
that communities employ to manage high levels of violence. Coping
mechanisms may range broadly from individual strategies, such as changing
one’s work or study routine to avoid victimization, to collective strategies that
involve formal institutions such as community- based policing, to reliance on
traditional or alternative dispute fora. Some coping mechanisms—such as
forming extralegal security groups—can be negative and undermine the bases
for long-term violence prevention.
This study aims to understand how urban residents cope with violence, or the
threat of it, in their everyday lives, to inform the design of policies and programs
for violence prevention…..”
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