Welcome to the Safe City Blueprint

Categories: New initiatives
Udgivet: 04 Jun - 2020

Welcome to the Nordic Safe City Blueprint and to the conversation on how we create a safer Nordic region

 

We are proud to share the Safe City Blueprint 2020 developed in collaboration with nineteen Nordic cities.

Read Blueprint here

 

“We are proud to have nineteen Nordic cities taking a joint standpoint against hate and extremism by setting innovative and ambitious actions for 2020. With this Blueprint we can identify, compare and contrast the most pressing issues and areas of prevention that we need to act on together, if we are to stay ahead in the fight against extremism. Therefore, this is also an invitation for you to join our alliance and bring in new thoughts, concepts and best practice to keep Nordic cities, people and democracies safe.” – Jeppe Albers, Executive Director, Nordic Safe Cities.

The Safe City Blueprint presents an overview of the current safe city strategies in nineteen cities across five Nordic countries, and a mapping of some of the emerging themes within extremism prevention at a local level. In 2020, each member city has chosen one or more of their emerging local challenges or areas to explore within the Nordic Safe Cities Alliance to improve their local practice. This includes Oslo and Bærum who are engaged in reducing and preventing hate speech, Malmö is exploring how to better communicate with and to the citizens, and Reykjavik is examining how to shape the first ever designated strategy in the city to prevent extremism.

The Blueprint also dives into the effects of the corona virus in our societies and how extremist groups have taken advantage of the Covid-19 crisis.

“Extremists have been extremely active – this whole crisis is reinforcing a sense of imminent state collapse and they are exploiting feelings of fear, suspicion and uncertainty within populations.” – Magnus Ranstorp, Director of the Swedish Defence College

Magnus Ranstorp, Director of the Swedish Defence College, explained at the launch why a stronger city cooperation against extremism and hate is especially important now with the covid-19 pandemic. “Extremists have been extremely active – this whole crisis is reinforcing a sense of imminent state collapse and they are exploiting feelings of fear, suspicion and uncertainty within populations.”

Mayor of Copenhagen, Cecilia Lonning-Skovgaard, further highlighted how cities must constantly adapt to new situations and changing extremist scenes. Several cities are experiencing the emergence of new groups of resourceful and socio-economically strong individuals who are in the risk sphere for extremist influences. These individuals do not need nor are they interested in the resources and help that the city would traditionally offer.

Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen, Director of the Danish Royal Defence College, emphasised that as extremist groups are constantly innovating their recruitment approaches, cities must innovate as well. A core ingredient to innovation and creating resilient cities is to include new and diverse voices and to adapt to the changing landscape of extremism. Building resilience requires more than for cities to be able to take a hit and bounce back, they must learn from their own challenges, failures, and successes to emerge smarter and stronger.

The Safe City Blueprint is a dynamic collective effort to identify the most pressing challenges across Nordic cities and to learn from each other, in order to move forward with the most impactful solutions to create safe cities and prevent extremist violence and hate.

Mayor of Vantaa, Ritva Viljanen, further elaborates on the importance of the Blueprint and strong city collaboration. “During this time, it is very important to be in touch with our fellow Nordic cities. We can learn from each other. Our societies, our governance systems and our values are very similar. During exceptional times we must join forces.”

Another core theme of the Blueprint and for the Nordic cities is to engage and include the voices of the youth. Embracing young people’s experiences and perspectives is crucial to understanding how we can ensure that fewer young people are drawn into extremist groups. Several member cities are championing how to engage young people in the efforts to prevent extremism and become local change-makers for cool and safe cities.

“The most important thing is to listen to the youth, because we are the future. Also, to prevent extremism, we must influence children and youth with tolerance, democracy, critical thinking, and safety – because safety is peace and we need it.” – Sarpsborg Youth City Council.

At the launch of the Blueprint, four young people from Sarpsborg presented their perspectives on how we create safe cities in the future and left us with this final recommendation: “The most important thing is to listen to the youth because we are the future. Also, to prevent extremism, we must influence children and youth with tolerance, democracy, critical thinking, and safety – because safety is peace and we need it.” – Sarpsborg Youth City Council.

The Safe City Blueprint is a dynamic blueprint and although it is still a work-in-progress, by sharing the challenges in the Nordic cities, we hope to attract the best organisations, people, ideas and voices to our alliance. Therefore, this is an invitation for you to help shape the new Nordic response to extremism.

Enjoy the read.

Read Blueprint here