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"PARTNERS OF CHICAGOANS AND CITY HALL?
THAT'S RIGHT.
DIGITAL-AGE SAFETYCITYWIDE TRUST
Because in digital-age there's no safety (let along violence reduction) without TRUST. And why is this so? Because citizens, leaders, organizations mass media and cities themselves all have access (or ownership) of communications tools capable of reaching large and even citywide audiences. The disruptive powers of these tools, in democracies especially, weakens the traditional top-down power of hierarchical authority structures. Power is increasingly shared and distributed citywide in the form of networks.
In digital-age democracies that are free of government censorship of these tools, it is axiomatic that the difference between safety and violence in any city is a function of the difference between trust and mistrust. Simply put:
The more mistrust, the more violence.
The more trust, the safer the city.
From this it follows that digital-age safety (not to mention government functionality) becomes a function of the ability of citizens and leaders to respect and trust each other in formulating and deploying the measures needed to keep their city safe.
Safe cities use digital-age media a) to tap deep into the experiences, insights, talents, wisdom and yearning for safety of all citizens and b) to facilitate and deploy their safety resources in ways that maintain citywide safety for all residents.
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