Good governance and safe cities are reciprocal.

Enhancing urban safety and social cohesion are issues of good urban governance and successful experiences in urban safety improve governance. Where inhabitants are free from fear and where safety is improved for citizens and neighborhoods, interaction among people, among groups and with the public institutions becomes possible. This in turn creates an enabling environment for the inhabitants in the city, for the quality of their life and for economic development.

In addition, addressing urban safety and social cohesion is an exercise in good governance if it involves the development of solidarity practices, city consultation processes and institutional reform, which enhance citizenship and inclusion.

Safer Cities is essentially about improved local governance which includes local capacity-building and provides a framework within which the ability of local communities to tackle their own problems, here urban safety, is improved over time.