Giving Compass' Take:

• The authors at Brookings reports how Mexico City is addressing their urban violence and their plans are reinforced by the city’s Sustainable Development Goals. 

• This SDG "sets a global ambition to significantly reduce all forms of violence and related deaths by 2030 and recognizes the centrality of peace to development."

• Here's our article Addressing Global Issues: Sustainable Development Goals Overview. 

Despite growing prosperity as a leading urban center in Latin America, Mexico City is confronting “a crisis situation in … terms of violence,” according to its Attorney General. Mexico City’s Head of Government Claudia Sheinbaum has made safety a top priority, leading an all-hands-on-deck meeting on security every day, seven days a week. An integrated strategy to address the root causes of violence is underway, investing in both improved policing and reductions in long entrenched inequality and lack of opportunity for young people. This balanced approach recognizes the importance of addressing multiple intersections of inequality in successfully reducing violence, and is reinforced by the city’s endorsement of global agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Urban violence is an issue not just for large municipalities such as Mexico City. Globally, 44 percent of residents of small cities face epidemic levels of violence. Perhaps contrary to popular opinion, these cities are not confined to conflict areas; rather the vast majority of lethal violence takes place in areas ostensibly at peace. In the United States, Violence impedes sustainable development. It undermines health, economic prosperity, access to education, and our broader aspirations for humanity. Its impact on community well-being becomes especially concrete at the local level, where it stresses social cohesion and resilience and reduces new business growth and local job opportunities.

Read the full article about using SDGs to reduce urban violence by Max Bouchet, Rachel Locke, and Anthony F. Pipa at Brookings.