Cities continuously update and renew their strategy, action plan and partners to meet the current threats, adapt to the changes in extremism patterns and the situation in the city. Cities face challenges related to streamlining processes to govern and implement strategies and ensure a shared understanding and approach to extremism prevention across the public sector. Transparency, efficient communication and coordination within the city administration, as well as inclusion of affected communities and at-risk groups, is essential to creating safer cities and preventing extremism and hate. Therefore, all cities rely on strong multiagency cooperation and work cross-sectionally with social-services, schools, police and civil society.

Many cities are strengthening their roles as facilitators and change-leaders, aiming to inspire relevant civil society actors and other city stakeholders to join efforts to create safer cities. One key to successfully build local resilience and social cohesion is to identify and empower the right organisations in civil society. As a consequence, cities are increasingly focusing on enabling local community leaders from cultural, sports, youth and religious organisations as well as local businesses to take even stronger action to safeguard communities. On this journey, cities must continue to explore which new organisations to include in their prevention work and continuously upgrade existing initiatives.

Our Safe City Action

Shaping and communicating new prevention strategies

Several cities are using the Nordic Safe Cities Alliance to either form, refresh and renew their safe city strategies and action plans or expand their safe city alliances with new organisations.

The capital city of Helsinki (FI) is taking action to streamline processes for how the city responds to extremism and to ensure a shared understanding and course of action for all civil servants across the public sector. Vantaa (FI) will investigate how to build up an improved situational picture on safety and security in the city, and the capital city of Oslo will develop a new action plan to prevent hate crime and hate speech.

The Icelandic city of Reykjavik is investigating the need and usefulness of initiating the first designated strategy and action plan for the prevention of extremist violence and hate. Skien (NO) is taking action to expand city officials’ knowledge base around the topic of prevention of hate and violent extremism. Gothenburg (SE) is working with Nordic Safe Cities to formulate a new strategy for safety and crime prevention and to establish a new safety council. Stockholm (SE) is taking action to build and expand local safe city alliances.

Nordic Safe Cities will assist our member cities in developing and implementing safe city strategies and action plans aimed at promoting inclusion and keeping communities safe from extremist violence, hate and fear. We aim to make it easy to use strategies and action plans that can be adapted and used by as many local stakeholders as possible. And we support cities in their effort to build and rethink alliances and partnerships with existing and new organisations and businesses to promote local resilience against extremism.