Rethinking Approaches to Peace-Building and Political Settlements in an Increasingly Urbanised World

Abstract

Violence in cities significantly compromises development and can have detrimental consequences for peace-building and political settlements in both conflict and non-conflict settings. A majority of the world’s most fragile and conflict-affected countries are rapidly urbanising, while much of the global burden of armed violence can be directly or indirectly linked to cities. As such, urban environments interact with the mechanics of security provision in significant and complex ways. Implementing effective violence mitigation strategies therefore requires stakeholders to acknowledge varying types of urban violence, understand how these interact with the mechanics of security provision, and thereby bring a spatially relevant, city-specific thinking to the wider understandings of the arrangements by which political power is organised and exercised.