Around the world, the rapid growth of cities continues, a trend which is expected to be maintained into the next millenium. Africa follows only Asia as the region with the highest growth rate of urban areas and, according to the United Nations, the developing world will add two billion people to the population of cities in the next 25 years. In South Africa, the national census shows that 54 per cent of South Africans live in urban areas and the government has estimated that this may rise to 70 per cent by the year 2000. This global trend towards rapid urbanisation brings a host of challenges as city structures are forced to accommodate more people and provide basic services to larger areas. The convergence of people also places pressure on the number of available jobs and increases the demand for scarce resources. In the midst of this social and economic transition, the security of individuals living in urban areas may also be undermined. With the shifting of the security paradigm towards the concept ‘human security’, which implies recognising and responding to the security of the individual, providing for the safety of people becomes paramount.

In responding to the challenges which these ‘megacities’ present, both governmental and non-governmental organisations have recognised the necessity of an approach which not only engages governments, but also community-level partnerships. A recent conference in Johannesburg entitled Urban Safety — Safety for All: Crime Prevention Partnerships to Build Community Safety brought together a wide range of actors from Africa, Latin America, North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand to discuss the practical steps that can be taken to improve the safety of cities in both the developed and developing world. In areas where crime is on the increase, solutions need to be found which do not encourage the exclusion of groups and social classes, but are rather inclusive and engage a broad array of actors, including community groups (also youth and women’s groups), police, justice and city government officials.

In some ways, the challenge to provide safer cities is the same one which governments face in providing for the safety and security of all citizens. Threats to security at the macrolevel are also threats to security at the microlevel — drugs, guns, organised crime and the breakdown of economic infrastructure and social safety nets. The need for solution-oriented approaches which focus on the causes of and reasons for insecurity rather than the symptoms of the problem, is as applicable to Johannesburg as it is to South Africa. However, the implementation of solutions should be tailored to the local situation and local needs, if it is to succeed. What works for one country may not work for another, and the needs of cities may differ. The requirement to learn from the experience of other places and other people, however, is what crosses borders and city boundaries.