EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Safe cities:
Future-proofing for
tomorrow and beyond

Sponsored byThe Safe Cities Index 2021
The Safe Cities Index, a global policy benchmarking tool launched by theEconomist Intelligence Unit in 2015, marks its fourth iteration in 2021. Measuring
urban safety across five domains—digital, health, infrastructure, personal andenvironmental security—using 76 indicators, each edition of the survey has beenrefined to reflect new concerns, such as covid-19. This year’s index has grown tocover 60 cities in Africa, the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle
East, representing a variety of sizes, regions and income levels.

Future-proofing cities
Covid-19 is the first global pandemic since 2007, when the world became more
urban than rural. The crisis has stretched cities’ resources, accelerated social
and technological trends, and changed how we think about urban resilience.
To explore the urban security lessons that can be learned from covid-19, The
Economist Group assembled an expert panel: Hans Jayatissa, chief technology
officer at KMD; Esteban Léon, head of the City Resilience Global Programme at
UN-Habitat; and Nicola Tollin, professor of urban resilience at the University ofSouthern Denmark (SDU).

Safe cities: Future-proofing for tomorrow and beyond

The technology and flexibility toaddress global challenges
In addressing global challenges, governments must be flexible and use a holistic
approach that anticipates multiple threats and considers the interconnectednature of complex urban systems. Ranking first in the Safe Cities Index 2021 is
Copenhagen, and to focus their discussion, panellists examined what it andDenmark have done well, particularly in the past year.
Copenhagen has successfully used technology to fight covid-19 and climatechange. To meet these and other global threats, cities need support fromnational governments, civil society and the private sector. To aid collective
action, cities should share their data and expertise, particularly with peers indeveloping countries.
In its two most recent surveys, the United Nations ranked Denmark as the world
leader in e-government. During the pandemic, the Danish government used
the secure national digital post service to deliver information about covid-19 to
all citizens. The country’s well-established telemedicine system was expanded
to address social issues such as drug and alcohol abuse. A health app called“MinSundhed” or “MyHealth” was upgraded so people could receive covid-19
test results and demonstrate they had been vaccinated, and its user interface
was enhanced to make it easier to navigate. Nicola Tollin of SDU attributes theutilisation of data in helping to monitor the spread of covid-19 to the trust held
between civil society and the public administration.

Safe cities: Future-proofing for tomorrow and beyondEstablishing effective cyber-security involves a delicate balance between
protecting data and networks, and maintaining usability for people who may
not have a technical background. Usability can be a particular concern for theelderly and people with disabilities. In Denmark, local organisations have offered
training services so people could learn to access services without having tovisit government offices during the pandemic. Copenhagen also focused on
integrating its information technology systems to break down data silos andshare health-care data more effectively.
In the public sector, digitalisation is often difficult. But in times of crisis, “this isreally what distinguishes your city or your country from the rest,” observes Hans
Jayatissa of KMD. Mr Tollin says Copenhagen benefited from a range of supporting
factors, including public infrastructure such as open and green spaces, strong
neighbourhoods with good services, access to fundamentals like free health-careand social services, and high trust in civil society. The city also kept contact with its
most vulnerable groups, including ethnic minorities and the homeless.

Driving evidence-based
decision-making
Data is a key to addressing global challenges such as climate change. For
example, by using technology to measure the use of electricity, heat and water ingovernment buildings, Copenhagen can better understand usage patterns, reduce
consumption and increase efficiency. To do this, the data must drive what Esteban
Léon of UN-Habitat calls “evidence-based decisions” at the political level.
While wealthy cities have the skills and technology to gather and exploit data,
their peers in developing countries often lack resources. That represents anopportunity for cities like Copenhagen to share data, best practices and lessons
learned, particularly with small- and medium-sized cities in the Global South.
Wherever they are, cities need support in the form of legislation, resources andcapacity from national governments, civil society and the private sector. As Nicola
Tollin notes, urban safety “should be a common effort, a common responsibility.”

Safe cities: Future-proofing for tomorrow and beyond

The need for a new mindset
Climate change and similarly serious threats require a new mindset, because they
are global in scope but require local action. That calls for effective communicationand collaboration among supranational organisations, as well as between national,regional and local governments. At each of these levels, organisations need to beflexible so they can react quickly to changes in the environment.
”We need to understand that we need some radical changes in the ways in which
we consume and we produce. These radical changes, unfortunately, are not going
to be easy”. Nicola Tollin
In addition to making a co-operative effort, leaders must embrace systems-basedthinking. Complex urban systems are interconnected and require a “multi-hazard,multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder approach”, says Mr Léon. “We should notforget about the important things because we are reacting to the urgent things.”

We need to understand that we need some radical changes in
the ways in which we consume and we produce. These radicalchanges, unfortunately, are not going to be easy.

Nicola TollinCopyright© 2021 The Economist Group. All rights reserved. Neither this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced,
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