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Cape Town - While Cape Town, Joburg and Durban have received various accolades over the past few months, safety remains a goal that South African cities have yet to expand on.
The Economist recently released their Safe Cities Index 2015, which features a list of 50 cities around the globe, selected for various factors including size and availability of data.
The report is constructed using more than 40 quantitative and qualitative indicators, divided into four different categories: digital security, health security, infrastructure safety, and personal safety. Every city in the Index is scored across these four categories.
Also see: Joburg comes 2ndin World’s Most Inspiring Cities Index
Despite the report claiming that none of the world’s regions are urbanising as fast as Africa, poor data availability has meant that Johannesburg is the only South African, and African, city to be included in the index.
Jozi features in the 47th position on the list, making it one of the least safest cities in the world, along with the likes of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Tehran in Iran and Jakarta in Indonesia (which is ranked 50th).
According to the analysis, Johannesburg fares worst in health security and best in personal safety. The economist does point out that currently information regarding safety in African cities is hard to come by and that hopefully the continent's growing economies will bring with it an increase in data availability.
"Armed with this information, it will be possible to challenge the enduring perception that crime and insecurity still dominate a large number of African cities," the report reads.
It also goes on to state that African cities often struggle to increase safety and security on extremely tight budgets - highlighting Cape Town’s initiative in Khayelitsha - Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading project which uses small community centres to tackle crime - as a working example as well as referencing the city's MyCiti Bus Rapid Transport system as solutions being explored to improve unstable and unsafe environments in African cities.
Here are the top 5 safest cities according to the index:
1. Tokyo, Japan
2. Singapore
3. Osaka, Japan
4. Stockholm, Sweden
5. Amsterdam, the Netherlands
It's interesting to note that there is a close correlation between safety and wealth, as well as urban development. "Rich Asian cities (Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka) occupy the top three positions in the Index, while poorer neighbours (Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta) fill two of the bottom three positions," the report points out.
The Economist recently released their Safe Cities Index 2015, which features a list of 50 cities around the globe, selected for various factors including size and availability of data.
The report is constructed using more than 40 quantitative and qualitative indicators, divided into four different categories: digital security, health security, infrastructure safety, and personal safety. Every city in the Index is scored across these four categories.
Also see: Joburg comes 2ndin World’s Most Inspiring Cities Index
Jozi features in the 47th position on the list, making it one of the least safest cities in the world, along with the likes of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Tehran in Iran and Jakarta in Indonesia (which is ranked 50th).
According to the analysis, Johannesburg fares worst in health security and best in personal safety. The economist does point out that currently information regarding safety in African cities is hard to come by and that hopefully the continent's growing economies will bring with it an increase in data availability.
"Armed with this information, it will be possible to challenge the enduring perception that crime and insecurity still dominate a large number of African cities," the report reads.
It also goes on to state that African cities often struggle to increase safety and security on extremely tight budgets - highlighting Cape Town’s initiative in Khayelitsha - Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading project which uses small community centres to tackle crime - as a working example as well as referencing the city's MyCiti Bus Rapid Transport system as solutions being explored to improve unstable and unsafe environments in African cities.
Here are the top 5 safest cities according to the index:
1. Tokyo, Japan
2. Singapore
3. Osaka, Japan
4. Stockholm, Sweden
5. Amsterdam, the Netherlands
It's interesting to note that there is a close correlation between safety and wealth, as well as urban development. "Rich Asian cities (Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka) occupy the top three positions in the Index, while poorer neighbours (Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta) fill two of the bottom three positions," the report points out.
