The Urban Agenda for the EU Partnership on Security in Public Spaces has been working on a self-assessment tool that evaluates and measures urban safety and security. It is meant to support urban policies and provide indications on how to implement relevant approaches and tools.

The Partnership has developed this conceptual framework previously (see the report here), and it relies on precise definitions of urban security and sense of safety in the public space. The framework is structured around six dimensions (i.e., quality of life, social cohesion, public space liveability, sense of safety in public spaces, urban security, and background conditions) and takes into account almost 200 indicators. Moreover, the conceptual framework has been designed to be adaptable for its application in different urban settings.

As a final step to creating this tool, an external expert executed a pilot study to test the conceptual framework, which involved various cities from the Security Partnership. Additionally, the expert drafted a user manual for the self-assessment tool. The manual is aimed at measuring security in their urban areas and serves partly as an introduction to key concepts of urban security and urban safety. It can also be used as a guide that shows how to fill out the spreadsheets with the six indicators from the self-assessment tool.

Please see below a report showcasing the outcome of the pilot study, as well as the accompanying user manual.