Safety and Security of Cities and Their Impact on the City Life

Abstract

Cities witness growing threats to its safety and security. These threats have some direct impacts on the city, and the resort to militarized solutions leads to the emersion of secondary impacts that affects the urban life in the city through its urban form, traffic patterns, pedestrian mobility, and the street life. These threats were not taken into consideration during the city's planning phase that it needs more comprehensive solution to be able to face them. Urban safety and security has always been a real concern in Egypt, especially after the revolution in 2011 that was followed by an absence of security in the streets and a rising frequency of the crime rate. Since then, there has been a tendency towards militarized solutions and security measures.

This paper discusses urban violence and its different types, focusing on terrorism and crime, the impact of such on the city and whether it affects the quality of life in it. Finally, it attempts to monitor how these issues are reflected on the Egyptian context, especially on some vibrant areas within the Greater Cairo Region (GCR), its vulnerability to urban violence and the different Impacts of violence and terrorism on the city.

Keywords: Safety and security; militarization of the city