safe city essay

IFSEC Insider is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

• INFORMA PLC
• INVESTOR RELATIONS

IFSEC Insider is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

• Anticipate London
• Advertise With Us
• Video Surveillance
• Access Control
• Intruder Alarms
• Corporate Security
• Physical Security
• Borders & Infrastructure
• Guarding & security officers
• Cyber Security
• Smart Buildings
• Fire safety news
• Building safety
• Fire protection
• Fire prevention
• Fire extinguishers
• Critical national infrastructure
• Leisure & sport
• Residential
• Installer zone
• IFSEC Interviews
• Influencers hub
• Influencers in fire 2022
• Influencers in security 2022
• The IFSEC Insider Podcast
• IFSEC Insider Influencers in Security & Fire
• Critical Conversations
• IFSEC Directory
• CCTV Technologies Guide
• Control Rooms
• Video Analytics
• Thermal Cameras
• Video Surveillance Manufacturers
• Safe Cities
• Drone Security
• Perimeter Security
• Security Officer
• Fire Safety Manufacturers
• Residential Housing
• IFSEC London
• IFSEC London Exhibitors
• FIREX London
• FIREX Exhibitors
• IFSEC India
• IFSEC Philippines
• IFSEC Southeast Asia
• Security Companies
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Hanwha Techwin
• Arecont Vision
• The Fire Industry Association (FIA)

Adam Bannister

Contributor

Author Bio ▼

Sign up to free email newsletters

• Enter your email address.. *
• Country/Region --- Please Select --- Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Greenland Grenada Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati North Korea South Korea Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Macedonia Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine, State of Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Sudan, South Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
• I have read, understood and consent to your Privacy Policy .

Transforming security: The role of secure IoT connectivity within fire and security applications

Whitepaper: enhancing security, resilience and efficiency across a range of industries, what exactly is a ‘safe city’.

Requiring collaboration between the public and private sector and encompassing every security discipline, the safe cities concept is broad and nebulous.

We asked six security experts from across the industry what the concept means to them.

The video surveillance expert: Simon Adcock, CCTV section chairman, BSIA; MD, Atec Security

Cities are dynamic, complex environments and securing their prosperity through protecting population, assets and reputation is a major challenge.

Obvious threats include crime and terrorism but threats like flooding, road safety and pollution also must be considered. Responsibility for city safety is shared between multiple agencies and safe city initiatives are about prevention (through better intelligence sharing) and risk mitigation (through better incident management).

From a CCTV perspective the ability to access and share relevant video feeds, both live and forensically, is a common feature, and we’re seeing agencies accessing video feeds from company systems at a fraction of the cost of installing their own cameras. The technology links disparate systems under a common platform and offers police access and audit trails essential for DPA compliance.

The role of technology in safer cities is fundamentally about enabling effective communications between these agencies and stakeholders.

The consultant: Martin Grigg, founder and director, CHQ Security Services

As a basic definition ‘safe cities’ proactively reduce urban crime such as antisocial behaviour, street robbery and burglaries through a mixture of policing, technology deployment and offender management.

However, I see safe cities of the future deploying a holistic approach to metropolitan security. Cities that collect data (big data) from hospitals, transport systems, sporting events, traffic management systems, emergency services, private and public sector security systems – to name a few – and through data mining techniques, trend analysis and 3D visualisation, can improve services and, more importantly, predict when increased services are required.

The data analytics and crime prevention consultant: Ron Fellows

If something bad or wrong happens and it’s witnessed by a CCTV camera, there may be a human operator watching or there may be a smart video solution watching. If a terrorist organisation plots using social media, there may be a security analyst scanning the traffic or a smart analytics solution monitoring traffic and generating alerts.

A growing number of smart intelligence-gathering solutions are in place around the world. However, what stands in the way of the city becoming safer is the lack of joined-up thinking in the procurement of such ‘toys’ – or does the problem lie in the way such things are funded?

Whatever it is, more evidence of joined-up thinking would make me feel safer.

The threat analyst: Martin Lee, technical lead, threat intelligence, Cisco

It’s all about using computing devices to optimise a city’s operation to better serve the needs of its citizens. It’s about making people’s lives easier and the city more efficient – and more cost-efficient.

There has to be that IT level of sensors, actuators and connectivity, but really all we’re doing is deploying a new tool to help services already in place to become more efficient.

So we don’t need armed police on every corner – not if you’re doing the monitoring and analysis right. Just deploy existing law enforcement resources more efficiently to better fulfil their goals and the needs of the population. It’s not about an Orwellian, all-seeing state; it’s just about making everything that little bit easier, that little bit more efficient, that little bit better.

The association chairman: Michael White, director, Hampton Consultancy Ltd and chairman, International Professional Security Association

Back in 1996 the UN Safer Cities programme was launched in response to requests from African city mayors for help in tackling urban crime and violence. Over the years this has expanded, moved into cities globally and is now predicated on multi-agency cooperation across both public and private sectors. One key to continued success is a scheme’s flexibility: to respond to specific needs, within cooperating agencies and to adapt as needs change. Finally, inter-agency cooperation will have to accommodate funding squeezes as well operational requirements.

The public-sector surveillance expert: Andy Bailey, CCTV and systems coordinator, South Tyneside Council

This means a safe and secure environment that also provides a welcoming atmosphere for visitors. A mix of agencies working together to provide a visible, reassuring presence without being overbearing.

We need regeneration teams working together with community safety partners on new developments and robust policies and procedures to deal with resilience issues. A safe city needs a close partnership so that information is shared effectively to help reduce crime and disorder.

It’s essential that we have an effective guardian in the form of a modern, publicly overt CCTV system that is monitored by trained, proactive and enthusiastic staff with radio links to local shop and pub watches and police radio systems. We also need good news stories to promote the work being done and how safe the area is – because perception is everything.

Free Download: The Video Surveillance Report 2023

Discover the latest developments in the rapidly-evolving video surveillance sector by downloading the 2023 Video Surveillance Report. Over 500 responses to our survey, which come from integrators to consultants and heads of security, inform our analysis of the latest trends including AI, the state of the video surveillance market, uptake of the cloud, and the wider economic and geopolitical events impacting the sector!

Download for FREE to discover top industry insight around the latest innovations in video surveillance systems.

Related Topics

New security product launches and tech updates – september 2023, martyn’s law: where do retailers stand and what can they do to prepare ahead of the legislation, how do you protect access management systems in a connected environment with a converged security centre of course….

To create safer cities for everyone, we need to avoid security that threatens

Associate Professor of Urban Geography, University of Sydney

Disclosure statement

Kurt Iveson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Sydney provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

View all partners

This is the second article in our series, Cities for Everyone , which explores how members of different communities experience and shape our cities, and how we can create better public spaces for everyone.

The central role of public spaces in the social, cultural, political and economic life of cities makes it crucial that they’re accessible to everyone. One of the most important qualities of accessible public spaces is safety. If people do not feel safe in a public space, they are less likely to use it, let alone linger in it.

Perceptions of safety are socially produced and socially variable. It is not simply the presence of crime – or “threatening environments” – that contributes to lack of safety or fear.

All sorts of measures are put in place to make public spaces safer, from design to policing. But when we consider the effectiveness of these measures, we always have to ask: whose safety is being prioritised?

Women and members of ethnic and sexual minorities are among those who experience particular kinds of threats, abuse and violence in public spaces.

If we don’t account for the social dimensions of safety, there’s a risk that measures designed to enhance safety will have the opposite effect for some urban inhabitants.

Read more: Why Australia should be wary of the rise of the warrior cop, with tools to match

Safety for a privileged few?

There are many examples of safety measures that privilege the interests of some groups over others.

The gating of urban environments and the privatisation of public space allow the wealthy to buy a form of safety by separating themselves from the wider community. Such approaches aim to provide safety for the few, rather than the many. But this might actually add to people’s fear by creating a kind of urban border anxiety.

In architecture and planning, “crime prevention through environmental design” has gained traction as a way to enhance the safety and accessibility of public spaces. This school of thought suggests that spaces can be designed to reduce crime and enhance feelings of safety and security. Improving lighting and sight lines are examples of this.

These design principles are useful, but can only take us so far.

Design can certainly help to prevent some activities. But we need to ask: exactly what are we trying to prevent, where, and why are we trying to prevent it? Does it make our cities more just, for example, to design teenagers out of public spaces by blasting classical music or broadcasting ultrasonic frequencies that can annoy only their young ears?

Read more: The use of sonic 'anti-loitering' devices is breaching teenagers' human rights

Who misses out on feeling safe?

There are more banal, everyday examples of how public security measures can work to make some safe at the expense of others.

Consider the 2011 Transport for NSW “ customer courtesy ” campaign. The campaign, which placed posters on trains and train stations, sought to improve the “customer experience” by reducing the discomfort caused by “beastly behaviours” like loud talking and seat hogging.

These may cause discomfort for some public transport users, as surveys suggested. But many passengers are likely to be concerned about another “beastly behaviour” – racism. People from ethnic and religious minorities, especially women, too often experience racism, abuse and violence on public transport .

Not only do those customer courtesy campaigns fail to call out discrimination as unacceptable, they can unintentionally give licence to racist behaviour. Eyewitness videos have shown passengers speaking languages other than English being abused by other passengers who insist they should not have to listen to such speech.

Police use of “sniffer dogs” at train stations, public spaces and events also illustrates how security measures can be exclusionary. In New South Wales, well over half of all searches resulting from sniffer dog “hits” find no drugs on the person. And the locations in which sniffer dog operations have taken place mean that the young, the poor, ethnic minorities, Aboriginal people and LGTBQI communities seem more likely to be searched .

Read more: Why drug-detection dogs are sniffing up the wrong tree

Police justify these operations on the grounds that they “send a message” to potential offenders, thereby enhancing public safety. But this can make people in these locations feel less, rather than more, safe.

Research in the LGTBQI community in Sydney in the early 2000s found:

Calls for greater numbers of local area police are as numerous … as complaints about their visibility and overbearing presence.

For members of this community, homophobic violence, not recreational drug use, threatened safe access to public space. And yet while people struggled to have the threat of homophobic violence taken seriously, large groups of police with sniffer dogs constantly patrolled their streets, clubs and festivals, making people feel less safe and more threatened.

Read more: Big city gaybourhoods: where they come from and why they still matter

Principles for social justice

So, how can we ensure that safety and security measures in public space actually create safety for all? Setha Low and I have offered a set of social justice principles for planning and policing of public spaces. These are:

distribution and redistribution: are public spaces equally accessible to all, regardless of people’s income or where they live?

recognition: are some identities and ways of being in the city unfairly denigrated or stigmatised? Is there recognition that urban inhabitants have different identities and cultures?

encounter: do public spaces create opportunities for encounters across different identities, without discrimination and harassment?

care and repair: are public spaces cared for, and are the resources for care and repair fairly distributed?

procedural justice: is the planning of public spaces open to all in a democratic process?

Taking these principles into account can help us to avoid safety measures that have the perverse effect of reducing accessibility for some, and to approach safety in a way that makes the city more accessible and just for all.

You can find other articles in the series here .

• Public transport
• Sniffer dogs
• Public safety
• Public space
• Cities & Policy
• Cities for Everyone

Sydney Horizon Educators (Identified)

Audience Development Coordinator (fixed-term maternity cover)

Data and Reporting Analyst

Lecturer (Hindi-Urdu)

Director, Defence and Security

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

• Backchannel
• Newsletters
• WIRED Insider
• WIRED Consulting

Masha Borak

Inside Safe City, Moscow’s AI Surveillance Dystopia

Sergey Vyborov was on his way to the Moscow Metro’s Aeroport station last September when police officers stopped him. The 49-year-old knew that taking the metro could spell trouble. During a protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, police had fingerprinted and photographed him. He’d already been detained four times in 2022. But he was rushing to his daughter’s birthday, so he took a chance.

Vyborov wasn’t arrested that day, but the police informed him that he was under surveillance through Sfera, one of Moscow’s face recognition systems, for participating in unsanctioned rallies. Considered one of the most efficient surveillance systems, Sfera led to the detention of  141 people last year. “Facial recognition, and video cameras in general in a totalitarian state, are an absolute evil,” Vyborov says. 

Vyborov finds himself at the bottom of a slippery slope that privacy advocates have long warned about . Under the guise of smart city technology, authoritarian and democratic governments have rolled out huge networks of security cameras and used artificial intelligence to try to ensure there is no place to hide. Cities have touted the ability of such systems to tackle crime, manage crowds, and better respond to emergencies. Privacy campaigners say such systems could be used as tools of oppression. In Moscow, Vyborov and countless others now face that oppression on a daily basis.

The Russian capital is now the  seventh -most-surveilled city in the world. Across Russia, there are an  estimated 21 million surveillance cameras, and the country ranks among the top in the world in terms of the number of connected surveillance cameras. The system created by Moscow’s government, dubbed Safe City, was touted by city officials as a way to streamline its public safety systems. In recent years, however, its  217,000 surveillance cameras, designed to catch criminals and terrorists, have been turned against protestors, political rivals, and journalists. 

“Facial recognition was supposed to be the ‘cherry on top,’ the reason why all of this was built,” says a former employee of NTechLab, one of the principal companies building Safe City’s face recognition system.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Safe City’s data collection practices have become increasingly opaque. The project is now seen as a tool of rising digital repression as Russia wages war against Ukraine and dissenting voices within its own borders. It is an example of the danger smart city technologies pose. And for the engineers and programmers who built such systems, its transformation into a tool of oppression has led to a moment of reckoning. 

Founded in 2015, NTechLab  caught the attention of the global press with the February 2016 launch of FindFace, an app that allowed anyone to identify faces by matching them with images gathered from social network  VKontakte , Russia’s Facebook equivalent. Met with warnings of the  “end to public anonymity,” the app was reportedly downloaded by 500,000 people within two months of its launch. But for NTechLab, it was primarily a proof of concept for its nascent face recognition algorithm.

NTechLab still felt like a startup when one former employee, who asked not to be named for privacy reasons, joined the company. And he was drawn in by the complexity of the work.

David Kushner

Andy Greenberg

David Gilbert

Emily Mullin

“From [an] engineering point of view, it’s very interesting to work with: It’s very difficult,” he says. 

After the release of FindFace, NTechLab began selling its face recognition tech to small businesses, such as shopping malls that could use it to catch shoplifters or see how many people return to certain stores. But NTechLab was also working with the Moscow Department of IT Technology (DIT), the government department tasked with building Moscow’s digital infrastructure. In 2018, when Russia hosted the FIFA World Cup, NTechLab’s face recognition tech was connected to more than 450 security cameras around Moscow, and its tech  reportedly helped police detain 180 people whom the state deemed “wanted criminals.”

At its inception, Moscow’s face recognition system was fed official watchlists, like the database of wanted people. The system uses these lists to notify the police once a person on the list is detected, but law enforcement can also upload an image and search for where a person has appeared. Over the years, security and law enforcement agencies have compiled a database of the leaders of the political opposition and prominent activists, according to Sarkis Darbinyan, cofounder of digital rights group Roskomsvoboda, which has been campaigning for a suspension of the technology. It remains unclear who is in charge of adding activists and protesters to watchlists.

In March 2019, following the success of the World Cup trial—some of Russia’s “most wanted” people were arrested while trying to attend matches—the Moscow Department of Transportation, which operates the city’s metro, launched its own surveillance system, Sfera. By October 2019, 3,000 of the city’s 160,000 cameras were enabled with face recognition tech, according to interior minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

NTechLab was one of many companies building the slew of systems that would later be branded Safe City. International companies, from US tech firms such as Nvidia, Intel, and Broadcom to South Korea’s Samsung and Chinese camera maker Hikvision, worked alongside local firms such as  HeadPoint ,  Netris , and  Rostelecom  that have developed various components of the surveillance systems. According to procurement documents cited by the UK’s BBC, three companies besides NTechLab created face recognition tech for Moscow’s growing surveillance apparatus, including Tevian, and Kipod, and VisionLabs. Moscow's Transportation Department said in social media posts that Sfera was built using VisionLabs technology, although the company downplays its involvement.

NtechLab says it operates in compliance with local laws and does not have access to customer data or camera video streams. Nvidia and Intel say they left Russia in 2022, with Nvidia adding that it does not create software or algorithms for surveillance. Broadcom and Samsung also say they stopped doing business in Russia following the invasion. VisionLabs says it only provides the Moscow Metro with its face recognition payment system. Other companies did not respond to requests for comment. The DIT and the Moscow Department of Transportation did not respond to requests for comment.

At the end of 2018, as Russia cracked down harder on political dissent online and in the streets, the DIT started to change, says a former employee who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons. The department used to just be the “technical guys” providing assistance to security services, with the Moscow government recruiting highly paid IT specialists to make the most efficient systems possible, according to Andrey Soldatov, an investigative journalist and Russian security services expert. But according to the former employee, the DIT was beginning to reflect the Kremlin’s authoritarian bent.

Then came Covid. 

Safe City launched in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Russia, like some other countries, seemingly used the pandemic as grounds to expand its surveillance systems to catch people breaking self-isolation rules. By mid-March 2020, Safe City’s face recognition system had  caught 200 people breaking lockdown restrictions. At the same time, Moscow  introduced a regulatory sandbox for the development of AI applications with the participation of large IT companies, exempting authorities from the country’s already lax data protection requirements. “With Covid, [the DIT] essentially became a part of the repressive apparatus,” says Soldatov.

In addition to its network of more than 200,000 cameras, Safe City also incorporates data from  169  information systems, managing data on citizens, public services, transportation, and nearly everything else that makes up Moscow’s infrastructure. This includes anonymized cell phone geolocation data collection, vehicle license plate recognition, data from ride-hailing services, and voice recognition devices. As Safe City was still rolling out in 2020, the Russian government  announced  plans to spend $1.3 billion deploying similar Safe City systems across Russia. From the outside, the potential for the system to be abused seemed obvious. But for those involved in its development, it looked like many other smart city projects. “No one expected that the country would turn into hell in two years,” says one former NTechLab employee, who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

Attempts to break open Moscow’s digital black box have been stonewalled. Alena Popova, whose image was captured during a protest against  politician Leonid Eduardovich Slutsky in April 2018, filed the first lawsuit against Moscow’s DIT for allegedly violating her privacy, seeking a ban on face recognition tech. The case was  thrown out , but Popova has continued to file lawsuits, including one at the European Court of Human Rights—which Russia is  no longer a part of. 

While Moscow operates one of the world’s most pervasive surveillance systems, Russian law does not safeguard individual privacy. With seemingly no hope of recourse, some activists have been forced to leave Russia altogether. Popova is now on the list of foreign agents and is living in an undisclosed overseas location. “I will not apply to any political asylum in any country because I would like to go back to my own country and fight back,” she says.

A key concern is that Moscow’s surveillance system was designed to conceal its data collection from Moscow’s 12 million residents, says Sergey Ross, founder of the Collective Action Center think tank and a former Moscow politician. Although the system is run by the Moscow government, elected members of the Moscow City Duma  say  they are excluded from regulating face recognition systems and have little insight into how it is being used. “It’s a complete black box,” says Ross.

“It was clear that sooner or later the technology would be used to catch activists and dissenters,” says Roskomsvoboda’s Darbinyan. 

Russia made  almost 20,500 political arrests in 2022 , according to data from human rights media organization OVD-Info, which characterizes the number as “unprecedented.” The arrests have sparked fears that Safe City will be expanded to catch draft dodgers—although former NTechLab employees say that doing so would be technically difficult to pull it off because of too many false positives. Still, Moscow police appear to be using face recognition to aid Russia’s war efforts in other ways.

In September 2022, just after Putin announced additional mobilization for the war against Ukraine, Viktor Kapitonov, a 27-year-old activist who’d protested regularly since 2013, was stopped by two police officers after being flagged by face recognition surveillance while he approached the turnstiles in Moscow’s marble-covered Avtozavdodskaya metro station. The officers took him to the military recruitment office, where around 15 people were waiting to enlist in Putin’s newly announced draft. 

“They let me in without waiting in line as if I were some sort of VIP person,” he says. The recruiters wanted to force Kapitonov to enlist, but he ended up escaping the draft. “I explained that I am not fit, I have a disability.”

From 2017 to 2020, NTechLab became one of Russia’s  fastest-growing companies. Other face recognition firms have cashed in as well: The revenue of Russian face recognition developers  grew between 30 and 35 percent in 2022, thanks in part to deals struck in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, India, and South America. Russia’s national AI strategy has supported such firms with grants, tax exemptions, and subsidies, which have benefited both startups and state corporations, including tech and finance giant Sber , telecom provider  Rostelecom , and defense firm Rostec, which previously owned a minority stake in NTechLab. While NTechLab continues to work globally, reporting a revenue increase of 35 percent in 2022, it has also faced a backlash against its work with the Russian state.

In June of last year, a “name-and-shame” list of NTechLab employees was  published [in Russian] with information collected from social media. The project went viral, and some employees reported being harassed online. Artem Zinnatullin, a software engineer now based in the US, says he published the list after NTechLab  sold its new  silhouette recognition technology to the Moscow government in June 2022. To him, it signaled support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. In the post, he called NTechLab “the blacksmith of the Digital Gulag.” Zinnatullin, who says he knew people arrested with the help of face recognition technology, believes publishing the list of NTechLab employees was only fair. “You recognize people on the street, it’s only fair if we use public data to recognize who you are,” he says.

Unlike many face recognition companies that keep a low profile, NTechLab’s splash with FindFace has turned it into a recognized brand. Employees say this high profile has made them into scapegoats. 

As arrests of activists and politicians mounted, the ethics of NTechLab’s technology became a recurring topic at company meetings. NTechLab staff have resisted the use of the company’s face recognition in rallies and refused to sell the technology to the military, according to people familiar with these discussions. Still, the NTechLab leadership concluded that the technology was ultimately positive—even if the occasional dissenting voice was arrested because of it. 

“We all saw these positive examples, we saw how it really catches criminals,” says one former NTechLab employee. “Most people in NTechLab would say they were doing something very good, technologies that can help and save people’s lives. It really did.”

As Russia furthered its march toward authoritarianism in 2021, NTechLab leadership began talking about moving the company abroad, according to people familiar with internal company discussions. But with lucrative government contracts abounding—NTechLab  received a $13 million investment from the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, in September 2020—its investors resisted the idea. The company was also changing. Its founders, Alexander Kabakov and Artem Kukharenko, stepped down from NTechLab—and both left Russia in December 2021 and February 2022, respectively, declaring   their  anti-war stance on social media. 

Other employees left amid an exodus of IT talent from Russia. The war changed how they viewed their work. “Looking back, we realize that we shouldn’t have done it,” says an NTechLab employee. “But even in 2017 and 2018, it was a completely different country. At least, that’s how it seemed to those who weren’t very immersed in politics.”

Russia’s Safe City projects show no sign of slowing. As more surveillance systems are deployed across the country, Moscow’s DIT is planning to centralize video streams collected across all regions into its own system. And new projects to digitize public services may make it even easier for the government to eventually create large databases where everyone can be found, according to Popova. “It is really scary,” she says. “If they digitalize all the databases and combine them to make this joint database, they can find everybody.” In July, Putin  signed a federal law that funnels personal biometric data collected in the country into a single system—an effort to obtain an “almost unlimited monopoly” on the collection and storage of biometrics, says Roskomsvoboda’s Darbinyan. 

In a further expansion of the Safe City project, Rostec is also  reportedly  developing software that will help authorities predict riots and prevent their escalation by analyzing media reports, data from social networks, video cameras, and other sources. Rostec did not respond to a request for comment on its development of these systems.

Similar systems have been developed in some Chinese cities, and Russia is now playing catch-up. “The Russian government would probably like to move toward China, but they do not yet have the necessary technology,” says Kiril Koroteev, head of international practice at the Russia-based Agora International Human Rights Group.

For now, many activists in Russia are left to do whatever they can to skirt the country’s growing surveillance apparatus, including avoiding the Moscow Metro. Kapitonov hopes that a balaclava will keep him safe, while Vyborov aims to ride the metro early in the morning, when there are fewer police around to detain him. 

“I think that it was inevitable that such a system would be made sooner or later,” says one former NTechLab employee. Face recognition is like a knife, he says: It can be used to cut food, but it can also be used to cut innocent people. He now regrets that NTechLab played a key role in building Moscow’s Safe City project. He has left Russia and doesn’t think he will work on face recognition again. “I do not want to mess with it anymore,” he says.

Update 9:25 am ET, February 6, 2023: Clarified the role of VisionLabs in the Sfera system and that NTechLab's founders have since left the company.

You Might Also Like …

In your inbox: The best and weirdest stories from WIRED’s archive

Jeffrey Epstein’s island visitors exposed by data broker

8 Google employees invented modern AI. Here’s the inside story

The crypto fraud kingpin who almost got away

It's shadow time! How to view the solar eclipse, online and in person

Andrew Couts

Dhruv Mehrotra

Dell Cameron

Ali Winston

Matt Burgess

White Paper

The Benefits of Safe Cities

June 15, 2017 / June 27, 2017 by SLI | Leave a comment

Safer Cities Creating a Better Life

For the first time in history, there are more people around the world living in cities than people in rural areas. While the global migration to urban areas is improving their living standards, health, and financial prosperity, it also brings challenges to a city’s infrastructure, resources, security procedures, and emergency response systems. Meeting these challenges will be critical to the success of cities in the decades that follow.

The safe city concept has been developed precisely to help government stakeholders, city mayors, and police departments mitigate these challenges. Leveraging the internet of things (IoT) and the connectivity now found in core security and safety technologies, safe city solutions are providing a range of systems including predictive analytics and big data, real-time response procedures and emergency response systems. These solutions are enabling governments and police departments to better protect their citizens from everything from terrorist attacks to natural disasters. They are also supporting wider city organizations such as public health, fire and rescue, border control and social services to better serve their citizens.

Safe cities create a better life

The safe city concept is based on a consolidated ICT platform which combines public-safety information of different types and from different sources, obtained through sensors and multi-agency collaboration.

Safe cities are an essential pillar supporting the development of smart cities throughout the world. They provide the security and safety required to protect citizens from crime and terrorism as well as mitigate, as much as possible, the impact of natural disasters and other threats. A successful safe city solution should support a city’s security agencies, fire and rescue departments, public health and social service departments before, during and after an event, and integrate the disparate technologies and government departments responsible for citizen safety.he safe city concept is based on a consolidated ICT platform which combines public-safety information of different types and from different sources, obtained through sensors and multi-agency collaboration.

Four major requisites

• Prevention: It provides reliable and comprehensive security measures to predict threats and hazardous situations.

City authorities must be able to take measures to prevent threats from occurring in the first place. Simulation and forecasting technology, based on big data mining, can help the relevant authorities to predict public threats and support police and military assets to prevent the event before it begins.

• Detection: It aids to public-safety organizations in collecting, sharing and analyzing data more effectively to provide early warnings and raise situational awareness.

Sensor systems in the city will proactively gather information. These sensors may include video surveillance cameras, CBRNE (Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) sensors, gunshot-detection sensors, and weather sensors. The type of sensor used is determined by the scope of the safe city project and how much inter-operability is required. Information can be used to provide early detection and alerts when events occur. Increasingly, sensors include ‘listening’ to social media for relevant posting by netizens.

• Response: It enables the key organizations in the city to react to security threats in real time.

City authorities must be able to prevent an adverse event from escalating. Safe city projects enable an effective response by using a consolidated ICT platform to provide a common operational picture to all relevant agencies, including law enforcement, public health, fire and rescue services; and to allow the critical communication systems of these agencies to inter-operate. This helps to raise the situational awareness for each of the responding agencies, and their command, control and coordination.

• Recovery: It provides post-event examination and analysis, identify victims and provide assistance in rescue actions.

After an event, city authorities must be able to quickly examine and analyze all data received from the relevant sensor systems. This supports the subsequent search for suspects as well as the process of building a case based on incriminating evidence. Information can also be used to facilitate rescue actions, and the identification and assistance processes for both victims and survivors.

Integration

The safe city concept typically promotes inter-operability across law enforcement, emergency services and other government agencies (public health, border control, social services) to streamline operations and provides ‘situational awareness’ to all stakeholders involved in the management of a city’s security. This approach fosters better cooperation and sharing of intelligence.

While much of the emphasis of the ‘safe city’ discussion involves security technology implementation and investment, the operational procedures and ICT backbone are just as important in the solutions’ ultimate success or failure. This reality means that ICT and security agencies must work together for the greater good of the safe city project. One cannot exist without the other.

The size of the city does not impede its ability to be considered a safe city but differing city sizes require different levels of technology investment, stakeholder ‘buy-in’ and planning. Safe city solutions are often layered on top of the legacy infrastructure that is in place. Overall, detailed planning around the use of legacy technology and the need for new infrastructure are key considerations when deploying safe cities.

Market drivers

There are a number of market drivers that government agencies need to consider when deciding how to proceed with a safe city project. These can be broadly grouped as safety drivers, social drivers and economic drivers, and the government investment in safe cities has a positive impact on each of them.

• Safety drivers: at its core, a safe city addresses issues related to crime and terrorism. Often, these types of incidents cause regulations surrounding data privacy and national security to shift. For instance, after the September 11 th attacks, the United States Congress passed the Patriot Act, which set up fusion centers to surveil and aggregate vast amounts of data including video surveillance streams, social media, arrest records, warrants and even mug shots. These centers, now known as ‘Intelligence Fusion Centers,’ are becoming increasingly important, as agencies emphasize predictive policing.
• Social drivers: Political motives are a key driver of safe city projects. Politicians can use safe city initiatives to generate support in their campaigns with citizens who are concerned about terrorism or high crime rates. A safer city also increases retail spending, means citizens are more likely to visit leisure and sports facilities, and generally improves the happiness of people living in the city. Furthermore, a safer city may see fewer citizens migrating out due to security and safety concerns.
• Economic drivers: it is evident that there are economic benefits to safe city solutions. These include savings from the reduced impact of crime and terrorism; promoting business and commercial opportunity; mitigating costly natural disasters and generally increasing the productivity and wellbeing of citizens. A safer city also attracts foreign investment and tourism. On top of promoting business, safe city initiatives allow a city to save on technology operational costs. Sharing and re-using optimized infrastructure across agencies helps a city eliminate repeated spend on technologies. There is also a return-on-investment (ROI) opportunity for cities, in particular from traffic violation fines. Automatic number plate recognition can be used to identify and fine cars driving in car-pool or bus lanes and video analytics can be used to recognize when parked cars have exceeded a designated length of stay and issue a penalty notice charge.

The role of governments in safe cities

Government stakeholders typically manage the safe city initiative and make the final decisions with regard to technology investment. Stakeholders include government employees, law enforcement, public health, fire, rescue, border control and social services. It is the government’s job to give the security consultants and technology providers a comprehensive scope of the goals the city would like to achieve. Enough time must be allocated for these steps so that the thought processes of both the city and the technology experts can align.

Governments must also determine how the initiative will be funded initially and what revenue streams will be leveraged to support the project. Safe city projects are ‘living,’ and as such require a continuous stream of revenue. One of the best things a government can do with regard to leadership and ‘driving’ the safe city project is to build a steering committee. This committee would include representatives from various agencies across the city who might be stakeholders. Additionally, the committee can include experts from consultants or technology providers, who can provide guidance.

For positive reasons Safer Cities intrude on the privacy of citizens. To avoid concerns about privacy negatively impacting on achieving the best safe city result, Governments should be open and honest about the nature of the intrusion. This will include capturing and storing data about citizens as they go about their daily lives. Most citizens will be satisfied to know that first, the data has been collected and securely stored only for legitimate reasons related to making their city safer, and second that there is a clear policy on how long that data will be kept before it is deleted.

The role of technology providers in safe cities

Technology providers play a major role in safe city initiatives. Ultimately, their solutions will be brought together to create an advanced security solution. However, there are no comprehensive safe city technology standards. Instead, each technology type has its own set of standards and regulations, and these often change between vertical markets. For this reason, integrators, consultants, and technology suppliers and their concepts and technologies must be vetted heavily to determine if they work together effectively. Technology suppliers must gain a deep understanding of what the government is trying to accomplish, and how they will achieve key performance indicators with their safe city initiative.

The role of the maintaining service providers in safe cities

Safe city projects are not just about building a system; running the system successfully is also very important. Therefore, maintaining service providers play a key role. These organizations upgrade and maintain the security equipment – important given much of it is installed outdoors – and have professional ICT skills to maintain the back-end systems. In most cases, the government will outsource the maintenance to either a system integrator or a dedicated maintaining service provider.

The role of citizens in safe cities

Citizens are critical to the safe city project. While citizens may not directly affect decision making around the technologies or operational processes, their engagement with the government and emergency services is important for the success of safe city projects. Allowing citizens to share information means they will be more engaged in the project and will feel a civic duty for reporting crime or providing crowd sourced evidence. Governments who deliver successful, effective safe city projects can also enhance their reputation as leaders who have improved the quality of life of their citizens.

Quantifying the benefits of Safe Cities

Evaluating the impact of safe city projects.

The benefits of the safe city projects can be broad and difficult to quantify. Often, the goals of safe city projects range from reducing crime rates and improving public safety to driving economic growth and improving general citizen wellbeing.

Based on primary discussions with executives from leading safe city security firms, city officials and other industry experts, IHS Markit identified four indexes to measure the success or failure of a project. These indexes use an aggregation of public data, IHS Markit research data and an IHS Markit commissioned citizen survey, and measure the government investment, safety result, social benefit and economic benefit of safe city projects in key cities across the world.

Each index comprises either six or seven primary indicators which are used to review how safe city projects are influenced over a set period of time. The purpose of analyzing multiple indicators in one index is to take into account the wide range of project aims and challenges. The Indexes and their constituent indicators are summarized below:

• Government investment: It measures the level of a government or city administration’s continued commitment to spending on safe city ICT equipment as well as the level of ICT competence, the police resource allocated to public safety and the coverage of physical security and critical communications equipment.
• Safety result: It measures the level of crime, the risk to individuals and property from riots, protests, terrorism, and kidnapping as well as the public’s perception of crime and the police department’s ability to respond to events quickly and effectively.
• Social benefit: It measures social benefits such as the ability to enjoy entertainment, leisure and sporting events safely, the public’s appreciation of the government and police force based on their response to security and whether talented employees are moving to the city.
• Economic benefit: It measures economic benefits such as personal wealth and prosperity, spending on tourism and retail, employment rates, city investment and the risk and prevention of serious economic challenges happening in the short term.

Each index has been compiled from a series of 26 primary indicators. Weightages have been applied to differentiate between indicators and reflect their importance on the over all category. A score of between one and five has been allocated to represent the level of commitment, spending or risk for each category. A score of 5 relates to the most positive impact and a score of 1 to the least positive impact. Index data has been sourced from IHS Markit research and public resources.

Summary of key points for global safe cities

The safety result, social benefits and economic benefits generated by a safe city project are greatly dependent on the government investment. The figures show that government investment has a direct relationship on the benefits of a safe city project; however, the impact is different depending on the stage of government investment. There are three distinct stages of government investment that impact the safety result and social benefit of a city.

Government investment versus safety result

The initial government investment in a safe city project is primarily about security and can drive a large increase in the safety result. As much of the security infrastructure and technology is not deployed, the required government investment is high. At this stage, only the city’s critical locations are covered by video surveillance cameras, basic command and control equipment, and the government begins to build the ICT infrastructure. Maximizing these security technologies can drive a 25% increase in the safety result score, with significant improvements in property and individual risk levels, police conviction rates and emergency response times.

Once the initial safety result improvements have been achieved the projects can often become more challenging. Continued investment does not have the same impact on the safety result as many of the primary risks have been mitigated. This calls for the second stage of government investment. At this stage, the city has better video surveillance camera coverage of key and secondary locations. The city also has the advanced security technology in place to start to deploy big data and intelligent analysis. Additionally, these cities often have more stakeholders involved following the initial government investment which makes it more difficult to agree on the projects direction.

If a city has the capital resources to continue investing in these projects, the third stage of deployment is to leverage opportunities such as big data analytics and predictive crime centers. At this stage, the city has almost full video surveillance camera coverage. The city also emphasizes more on data sharing, predictive technology and other intelligent analysis than physical security equipment. Furthermore, the city’s resources can be used more effectively through the deployment of a safe city. The key benefit is the reduction in the operational costs for the city without impacting the security level. At this stage of government investment the safety result shows a slight increase and then tends to be stable.

Government investment versus social benefit

If the safety result benefits most from the initial government investment, the social benefit score improves most in the third stage of the government investment. A key component of the social benefit score is citizen feedback on the government and police, and the general happiness of citizens living in the city. The security and safety improvements made during the initial investment take time to make an impact, but ultimately drive an increase in the social benefit score. Citizens appreciate the value of innovative solutions that are making them safer, which is reflected in their appreciation of the government and police force.

Overall, a 20-25% increase in government investment can result in a 35-40% increase in the social benefit score of the city at this third stage. The government appreciation and police appreciation scores can increase by over 50%; citizens in connected cities value the impact safe city projects have on their city environment and way of life.

It is clear that safe city deployments have a positive impact on many of the key indicators of a successful city. That being said, there is no one size fits all solution. Projects need to address the unique threats of a city and focus on the areas of opportunity. This could be crime prevention in cities where government investment has historically been low or tourism and citizen happiness for cities that have already made significant investment. They also need to take into account the ICT environment to maximize the opportunity to improve the safety result, social benefit and economic benefit.

Key enabling technology: The cornerstone of safe city construction

While safe city projects typically integrate a large number of security and communications technologies, there are a few critical segments and emerging applications that are extremely relevant to the future success of safe cities.

Enabling the detection: Video surveillance and video analytics

Video surveillance is a critical element of a safe city. Security cameras provide the ‘eyes’ for all other operations and collect information remotely for live operations and forensic investigations. Each video surveillance scenario and camera site is different. Video surveillance deployments used in safe city projects can be especially challenging due to the size of the geographic area of coverage, the number of cameras integrated into a single system, and the range of conditions and operational purposes for each individual camera.

Video surveillance cameras can fulfil various functions in a safe city project including: general security monitoring of public spaces; suspect tracking; forensic investigations and evidence gathering following an incident; traffic monitoring and enforcement; and number plate recognition.

The video surveillance industry has undergone a transition from analog to network products. Picture quality has many components but the higher resolution in network cameras has driven adoption. To cope with the largely outdoor deployments and large variance in environmental conditions the use of wide dynamic range, high color fidelity and advanced low light technologies has increased. Furthermore, high resolution and panoramic cameras have the ability to cover wide-areas from a single vantage point, meaning objects within wide urban areas can be recognized and identified.

The video management element of a safe city video surveillance system critically allows operators to collate all live video inputs to build a picture of current scenarios. Underlying ICT platforms and the use of cloud management enable a large system to be managed on a single platform through distributed multiple control rooms (potentially with varying levels of authority). A flexible cloud infrastructure allows for seamless resource (transmission, analytic processing or storage) sharing across the network. Another of the trends in video surveillance technology is the evolution of an ‘information island’ to the ‘cloud,’ which could raise working efficiency, advance data sharing and big data analysis, maximizing the benefits of video surveillance, and reducing the cost caused by repeated construction.

Developments in the field of video content analysis (VCA) are most crucial to enabling the next-generation of safe city capabilities. Video analytics technology is now able to characterize the entire environment captured by a video surveillance camera, allowing the system to interpret the relevant information from the video, truly providing ‘eyes’ and a ‘brain’ to an entire safe city system by analyzing live and recorded video streams to detect, classify and track predefined objects or behavioural patterns. These technologies are used as a means to automate the video monitoring process and can be particularly effective in proactively identifying events as they happen and extracting information from recorded video. The latest deep learning analytics are able to more accurately recognize details, objects and behaviours. In a crucial difference to rule based analytics, once ‘trained’ – analytics using deep-learning technologies have the potential to continue learning from their training, gaining accuracy and efficiencies as a human operator would.

Increasingly a hybrid approach is being deployed where analytics workloads are more distributed using a powerful mix of smart cameras at the edge combined with centralized server and/ or cloud based analysis. This means some analytics can be run at the camera, for example crowd monitoring and counting, but more powerful centralized analytics could be used to run processor intensive applications such as face recognition against a nationwide-shared suspect database.

A significant element of the deep learning analytics revolution is the potential for multiuse and big data applications of video based metadata. The data which can be leveraged from surveillance cameras using analytics is not limited to security purposes. The potential for operational data relating to crowd management, sanitation, public transport and traffic monitoring amongst other examples can be leveraged – meaning potential for the integration of safe city technologies into a smart city.

Enabling the quick responses: Internet of Things (IoT) and connected devices

The IoT is not a specific device or technology – it is a conceptual framework, driven by the idea of embedding connectivity and intelligence in a wide range of devices. IHS  Markit defines an IoT device as a device which has some form of embedded connectivity that allows the device to be directly connected to the internet (i.e., IP addressable), or allows the device to connect (tether) to an IP addressable device. This connectivity can be wired or wireless.

These devices can include a range of sensors as well as some type of user interface (UI), but neither sensors nor a user interface is required under this definition. The ability to collect vast amounts of data in near real-time from this broad range of intelligent connected devices is the foundation of the IoT. This data can then be accessed directly, or via the cloud, and unique value propositions can be created through the application of complex analytics and big data techniques.

IoT is an important trend, especially within the safe city space. With more connected devices comes more data, which when combined with strong analytics, can provide intelligence that decision makers can use to preemptively alert to attacks, improve responses in real-time and speed up forensic analysis. Connected devices specific to the public safety sector can be connected to a control room or storage platform via a sensor. In the case of law enforcement, one such application could be a fire alarm connected with a sensor. The agency could gather data from this sensor such as drawing of the gun, firing of the gun, and time and locations where the gun is drawn.

Analytics can be run on the data collected to identify the city sectors most likely to result in a drawn weapon and officers who are more likely to draw the weapon. These types of sensors are the future of public safety and safe city, but many challenges surround the use of these systems. While this market is in an ‘early-days’ phase, it is evident that these technologies offer significant benefits to government agencies. In order to leverage these opportunities, governments should build up dedicated IOT for their safe city projects. LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) networks such as NB-IOT technology could be leveraged to realize the full city IOT coverage.

Enabling the efficient policing: Mobile policing

The transition from narrowband communications such as licensed mobile radio to broadband communications such as LTE is expected to be a facilitator to communications used as part of safe city initiatives. These networks will be able to carry high-speed data, location information, images, and video to provide first responders with enhanced ‘situational awareness.’ LTE is well placed to meet all the critical communication demands in various scenarios enabling data sharing and collaboration across agencies and districts to improve the coordinated response to emergencies, which are chief goals of safe city initiatives. The implications of the network for safe city projects are tremendous. Vastly more and ‘heavier’ information can be sent over a broadband network. Additional access to data means more options, which can be analyzed in control rooms and disseminated into the hands of field personnel.

Various programs such as the United States’ FirstNet and the United Kingdom’s ESN have made plans to migrate the countries’ emergency communications networks on to broadband. While these transitions will take time, and will work with mobile radio networks concurrently during the transition, it is evident that broadband will be the future of emergency communications.

Enabling the integration: Control room consolidation and resource sharing

A significant trend impacting public safety and law enforcement control rooms, especially in North America and Europe, is the consolidation of single-agency control rooms to form large multi-agency control rooms. This trend is driven by control rooms attempting to manage increasing budget restrictions, to improve efficiency and to improve inter-operability between different agencies.

Consolidation depends heavily on the productivity metrics that a control room uses. The agency must evaluate call taking and dispatching capabilities and processes. A typical consolidation might include rolling up city control rooms into a more regional entity. This task will encounter different local processes and it is therefore an opportunity to introduce the best practice process across all agencies.

Physically combining control rooms into one large unified control room is not necessarily the only way in which this consolidation can happen. With the increasing pressure to budgets and also in an effort to increase data sharing, it is becoming more common for several control rooms in a region to issue a joint tender for a single platform to be shared by each agency. There are several benefits to this shared purchasing process. There is a cost benefit, but it also enables control rooms to design emergency management systems to their own needs as well as expand their cooperation with geographically separate control rooms, leading to considerably improved resource management. There is also a benefit in the integration of voice, video and other data; the integration of video surveillance, video conference and narrowband/ broadband trunk.

Enabling the prevention: Predictive crime centers and big data analytics

A number of police departments around the world are placing more importance on predictive crime centers. After the September 11 th attacks, the Department of Homeland Security provided US states with funding to facilitate collaboration and information sharing among law enforcement agencies. As a result, ‘fusion centers’ were developed as part of counterterrorism analysis. Today, there are 78 fusion centers across the United States, which range in size from staffs of three to 250, including officers, analysts and agents.

Fusion centers are slower time analysis units which look at big data sets from both traditional police data and many other sources. These can include video surveillance streams, social media, arrest records, warrants and mug shots. Fusion centers can provide intelligence packages for patrol briefings and operations as well as support real time intelligence cells. These real time intelligence cells are typically attached or embedded into control rooms to provide intelligence supporting either command and control decisions or deployed officers. Furthermore, LTE networks have the potential to support richer data and image packages. These centers will become increasingly important as agencies place an emphasis on predictive policing.

Departments, including the Houston Police Department, are hiring specialized analysts to review social media during major criminal incidents to gather and send out data to officers in the field. This allows resources to be dispatched in a more focused manner saving time and cost. Predictive crime centers like the one in Austin, Texas, provide information including traffic camera data to the police force to facilitate investigations. The future of analytics will shift from a data sharing approach to a data mining approach, with the purpose of intelligence gathering, and disseminating those results across relevant agencies. Predictive analytics are typically deployed from traditional intelligence units and sometimes from Fusion centers. It is important to note that these systems require a significant amount of data to work effectively, and even advanced city deployments remain in the early stages of what is possible.

Enabling the sustainability of safe cities: Cloud and SaaS solutions

Cloud services can be defined as convenient, on-demand services provided over the Internet by a third-party provider. Rather than committing upfront to a fixed cost, platforms, hardware (servers, storage etc.), applications and software are provided as a service. The payment is typically on a periodic basis and based on usage. Consequently, cloud networks are designed to be scalable, rapidly elastic, and require minimal management, allowing increasing demand to be met dynamically.

On the flip side, if a user or enterprise starts to downsize, usage and payments for cloud services can be scaled back allowing the consumer to save money. Data stored in the cloud can also be accessed anywhere and shared seamlessly with other qualified users at any time across multiple devices. One of the factors hindering adoption of safe city projects is financing. As these projects are a capital expenditure (CAPEX), a city has to fund this type of project through some form of local, state or federal government funding. For small and medium-sized cities, typically without access to significant funding, this can be a great impediment to initiating these projects. The city can also be stuck with obsolete technology that it cannot afford to upgrade.

Cloud based technology has the potential to alter the way safe city projects are funded by changing the projects from a CAPEX model to an operational expenditure (OPEX) model. OPEX typically covers the day to day costs of running a city and includes rent, payroll, utility bills and maintenance. Two benefits of an OPEX model versus CAPEX model are that cities can deploy safe city projects in a more incremental fashion and there is no long-term commitment.

A further benefit of OPEX models that cloud-based technology provides is that it shifts responsibility and risk away from the city itself and onto the provider of the technology. One issue cities have faced in the past has been continuing to fund safe city projects after the initial funding had run out. As the project shifted from a depreciating capital expenditure to an ongoing operational expenditure, the city had to find money again to continue the project.

Safe cities are living projects, which means that even after extensive video surveillance infrastructure, a centralized command center, advanced analytics platforms and a robust storage system have been installed. The technologies and platforms used as well as the operational procedures employed will continue to evolve.

Multiple technologies and trends are shaping what safe cities will look like in the future, but the reality is that each city will have a unique solution based on their needs and the goals they are trying to achieve. Increasingly, cities will rely less on hardware and will instead rely more on software based applications. Infrastructure such as cameras will remain in place, but software will be used to access relevant data from systems across a city. Collaborative software systems will be used to disseminate this data to each agency involved in emergency response or security incident management. The future of safe cities is on the platform and solution rather than the equipment and technology.

Development strategy

The safe city represents the intersection of ICT and security technology. However, there is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to implementing and deploying a safe city solution. The key success factors can differ dramatically depending on the city’s specific security threats, government investment, existing infrastructure and the roles of the stakeholders involved in the safe city initiative. That being said, a number of strategic recommendations can be made based on the government investment stage of the city which will help to ensure a more successful safe city deployment.

First stage of government investment

In the first stage of government investment, the city typically needs to replace outdated security technology and critical communications systems. While this stage involves the largest capital expenditure, it also generates the largest improvement in the overall safety result. Furthermore, the implementation is more straightforward than at other stages, with higher resolution video cameras, LTE networks, IoT sensors, and command centers all likely to be deployed around the city. Given the limited existing infrastructure in place, the city can make a dramatic impact by reducing emergency response times for police, fire, and rescue services and lowering the overall crime rate through the safe city deployment.

Second stage of government investment

The second stage of government investment is more challenging. The safety result benefits generated in the first stage of investment have already been achieved and many of the social and economic benefits associated with the project will not be achieved until the government investment reaches the third stage. At this stage, the government should set targets and expectations for the third stage of government investment focused on the social and economic benefit improvements required. It should also build and motivate the project team to deliver on these targets. Furthermore, the government should start to build advanced data sharing platforms and continue to invest in ICT to maximize the safety result of the city and work towards the next stage of government investment. In the second stage of investment it is important to manage expectations and ensure that the city exploits the benefits of the project through continued spending to progress through to the next stage of investment.

Third stage of government investment

By the third stage of government investment, cities already have a mature physical security and ICT infrastructure. Consequently, much of the additional planning and investment in these cities surrounds the integration of existing systems, setting up collaborative or data sharing platforms and building advanced analytics solutions, which can mine data across the legacy systems. Project leaders need to ensure they work well with technology suppliers, systems integrators and security consultants to leverage the best of breed solutions available.

Key elements of successful safe city projects

It is evident that the approach to deploying a safe city is challenging. For this reason, planning and discussion between stakeholders is important regardless of the city size or development stage. The projects which have been successful had one major element in common: the various stakeholders worked together and constructed a consolidated project team and dedicated safe city initiative. Projects fail because the different agencies do not identify unified objectives, are unwilling to collaborate, or do not engage the city’s citizen stakeholders effectively. A few components are critical:

• Steering committee: a group which takes the lead on the safe city initiative. Their responsibility surrounds securing funding and establishing stakeholder partnerships. There has to be a clearly defined lead agency or person and an agreed definition of what success looks like.
• Identified funding source(s): this may take the form of a wider federal grant, but also from private sources such as a foundation or local businesses.
• Strong partnerships with a range of agencies: police departments, transit organizations, universities, public health, social services, and business stakeholders need to work together. It is also important that the city’s citizens embrace the safe city concept.
• Project goals: specific targets with regards to the security need to be addressed and technologies to be implemented.

Benefits of a dedicated ‘safe city’ initiative

There are several benefits to establishing a wide-scale safe city initiative. Firstly, it involves a greater range of stakeholders, which means that there is not only more publicity, but greater potential for ‘buy-in’ amongst city agencies and other organizations. The greater range of stakeholder involvement brings with it a larger pool of financial resources. For example, if only the police are involved in a safe city initiative, it is likely that only their budget could be used to finance the project.

However, if transport, police, public health, fire and rescue, border control, social services and private organizations are involved, budget availability becomes larger. Multiple agencies working together do present additional challenges. However, it is for this reason that the steering committee is set up. This organization would ideally have an awareness of the technological needs of each of the different agencies and work to address those needs in the planning stage.

The safe city is ultimately a government-driven approach to security. However, multiple stakeholders must be involved. The continuous evolution of technologies, city structure, and security requirements, means a broad range of expertise is needed to make safe city projects a success. Strong government support facilitates these projects, but ultimately a collaborative approach between the government stakeholders, including public health, fire and rescue, and social services, its citizens, and technology firms will provide the best opportunity for successful safe city projects.

Thomas Lynch,  Director-Safe Cities,  IHS Markit

Niall Jenkins, Senior Consultant-Security, IHS Markit

How to make our cities safer

.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo{-webkit-transition:all 0.15s ease-out;transition:all 0.15s ease-out;cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;outline:none;color:inherit;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:hover,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:focus,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-focus]{box-shadow:0 0 0 3px rgba(168,203,251,0.5);} Holger Dalkmann

.chakra .wef-9dduvl{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-9dduvl{font-size:1.125rem;}} Explore and monitor how .chakra .wef-15eoq1r{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;color:#F7DB5E;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-15eoq1r{font-size:1.125rem;}} Supply Chain and Transport is affecting economies, industries and global issues

.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;color:#2846F8;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{font-size:1.125rem;}} Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:, supply chain and transport.

Every year, more than 1.2 million people die in traffic crashes worldwide, equivalent to nearly eight Boeing 747 plane crashes every day. As developing economies grow and private car ownership becomes more mainstream, the number of associated crashes and fatalities will continue to rise.

The challenge of traffic safety often flies under the radar in cities, where the social and economic challenges of accommodating growing populations take precedent. Without meaningful change, however, the World Health Organization ( WHO ) projects that traffic crashes could become the fifth leading cause of premature death worldwide by 2030. This takes a particular toll on cities, which are already home nearly half of global traffic fatalities. City leaders must prioritize traffic safety measures to ensure that their citizens have safe, healthy and economically prosperous cities to call home.

With Urban Growth Comes Traffic Safety Challenges

While there are a number of factors that contribute to traffic crashes, two of the primary challenges are rising motorization trends in cities worldwide and the issue of road equity: the most vulnerable road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, are most impacted by traffic crashes. On top of that, these users, typically lower-income, don’t always have the power or capacity to create the necessary changes.

The number of privately owned cars on the road hit the one billion mark for the first time in 2010. If we continue business-as-usual, that number will reach an estimated 2.5 billion cars  by 2050. All of these new cars will lead to an increase in traffic congestion in cities worldwide, increasing the probability of traffic crashes and resulting fatalities.

Despite these challenges, there is still time to adopt a different path for traffic safety by following the Avoid-Shift-Improve framework. We can avoid unnecessary trips to prevent traffic crashes and instead create compact, walkable communities with access to mass transport. We can shift trips out of cars and into high quality transit systems and active transport modes. And lastly, we can improve transport and urban design to maximize the safety of all trips by investing in people-oriented design strategies and sustainable transport infrastructure.

Making Cities Safer by Design

One of the best ways cities can become safer for all is through sustainable transport systems like bus rapid transit (BRT), which now serves 31 million people in more than 180 cities every day. BRT can make mobility safer by providing accessible and efficient infrastructure for moving people, not cars. For example, in Guadalajara, Mexico, just one lane of the Macrobús BRT corridor traveling in one direction transports 5,000 passengers per hour. Normal traffic lanes in Guadalajara can accommodate only 3,194 passengers per hour and saw 726 crashes in 2011. Macrobús saw only six accidents in the same year.

The growth in BRT and bus priority systems worldwide presents an opportunity to save lives and improve the health and safety of cities. A new report from the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities’ EMBARQ initiative and endorsed by the World Bank, Traffic Safety on Bus Priority Systems , shows that high quality public transport systems can improve traffic safety, reducing injuries and fatalities by as much 50 percent, seen in cities like Guadalajara and Ahmedabad. The report contains evidence-based planning and design recommendations that help cities make streets safer for all road users. Distributed and pilot-tested in major cities like Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, and Istanbul over two years, these recommendations address design strategies to make bus priority systems safer at intersections, transfer stations, pedestrian crossings, and more.

Social, Economic and Environmental Benefits of Safer Streets

The benefits of safe, well-designed BRT and bus priority systems are multi-faceted. Not only can these systems improve traffic safety, but they can also improve the health of city residents by reducing air pollution and increasing rates of physical activity, which has been shown to greatly improve longevity and quality of life.

Creating safer, well-designed bus corridors can prevent pedestrian fatalities, more than half of which occur on bus corridors with limited pedestrian protections in place. Additionally, the typical Latin American BRT system has been shown to provide numerous economic benefits to cities, of which safety impacts account for between 10 and 16 percent through a reduced burden on the healthcare system.

With steadily growing daily ridership, BRT and bus priority systems provide a prime opportunity for improving the safety and sustainability of city street and transport design. The findings and recommendations included in this report will help transportation planners, engineers, and urban designers develop the best solutions for their cities’ specific challenges and create safer, more accessible cities for all. Most importantly, they help city leaders around the world properly integrate traffic safety into transport policy, finance, planning, and design.

This article originally appeared on The World Bank’s Transport for Development Blog.  Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

To keep up with Forum:Agenda  subscribe to our weekly newsletter .

Author: Jose Luis Irigoyen is the Director for the World Bank Group’s Transport and ICT Global Practice. Holger Dalkmann is the Director at EMBARQ for the World Resources Institute.

Image: Joggers run past as the skyline of Singapore’s financial district is seen in the background April 21, 2014. REUTERS/Edgar Su.

Share this:

• Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

The Agenda .chakra .wef-n7bacu{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-weight:400;} Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

.chakra .wef-1dtnjt5{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;} More on Supply Chain and Transport .chakra .wef-17xejub{-webkit-flex:1;-ms-flex:1;flex:1;justify-self:stretch;-webkit-align-self:stretch;-ms-flex-item-align:stretch;align-self:stretch;} .chakra .wef-nr1rr4{display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;white-space:normal;vertical-align:middle;text-transform:uppercase;font-size:0.75rem;border-radius:0.25rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;line-height:1.2;-webkit-letter-spacing:1.25px;-moz-letter-spacing:1.25px;-ms-letter-spacing:1.25px;letter-spacing:1.25px;background:none;padding:0px;color:#B3B3B3;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;}@media screen and (min-width:37.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:0.875rem;}}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:1rem;}} See all

EU governments back human rights and environmental due diligence law for supply chains

Kimberley Botwright and Spencer Feingold

March 27, 2024

What is 'slow steaming' and why is the Red Sea crisis affecting shipping emissions?

Andrea Willige

March 19, 2024

4 ways geopolitical tensions are increasing carbon emissions

Laia Barbarà and Claudia Galea

March 12, 2024

Charting the course: How the shipping industry is adapting to tensions in the Red Sea

Zera Zheng, Rico van Leuken and Lars Karlsson

February 23, 2024

How Japan is creating a sustainable and resilient future for the logistics industry

Naoko Tochibayashi and Naoko Kutty

February 20, 2024

These are the world's most vital waterways for global trade

Spencer Feingold and Andrea Willige

February 15, 2024

Immigration 101: What is a Sanctuary / Safe City?

by Americas's Voice on March 8, 2018

Share This:

“Sanctuary cities” is actually a misnomer. While many Americans believe that it refers to a city that doesn’t prosecute immigrants, so-called “sanctuary cities” actually refer to something far more specific.

There’s no single definition of what is a sanctuary city, but generally speaking, it’s a city (or a county, or a state) that limits its cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agents in order to protect low-priority immigrants from deportation, while still turning over those who have committed serious crimes. This is why we prefer the term “safe cities”.

Table of Contents

What is a sanctuary / safe city, the case of alex, safe cities are safer, police departments support safe city policies.

• Safe cities and states’ rights
• Sessions’ lawsuit against California
• Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice letter
• Trump’s executive order trying to defund safe cities — and the San Francisco ruling against him

Safe cities come into play when an undocumented immigrant comes into contact with the police. A very common occurrence of this happens on the road – someone is speeding, has a broken taillight, or has a broken license plate light, and is pulled over. If a person is undocumented, chances are they do not have a valid driver’s license – only twelve states and the District of Columbia allow immigrants to legally drive. Immigrants still have to get to work and school somehow – but being found without a valid driver’s license can get an individual arrested.

Other reasons immigrants (just like native-born Americans) come into contact with the police include an immigrant calling the police to their house (for example in the case of a domestic dispute), a car accident, drug usage, police checkpoints, so forth.

Once an immigrant is arrested, their information gets put into a federal database that is shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE can then issue a hold, also called a detainer, asking the police to hold that person in custody until ICE can come pick that person up for immigration detention and eventual deportation.

Here’s where we get to important legal point #1: being undocumented is not a crime . It’s a civil violation. Undocumented immigrants have rights under the U.S. Constitution. And according to due process, the police cannot detain anyone who hasn’t at least been suspected of a crime. If a police officer encounters someone walking down the street who turns out to be undocumented, they cannot arrest that person because that person has not committed a crime (ICE, however, can). Similarly, if the police arrest someone undocumented – for example, someone suspected of committing a crime, who is then cleared, they must let that person go.

Important legal point #2: holding an immigrant past the point when they should be released, just so that ICE can pick them up, is unconstitutional. Multiple courts have said so , and immigrants can sue the police for unlawful holding.

Here we get back to the point of safe cities: in a safe city, the police will release an arrested immigrant after he’s been cleared of charges, posted bail, or completed jail time for whatever he was arrested for. A non-safe city will hold that person until ICE can come pick them up – even though that extra holding is not constitutional.

Keep in mind that all of the above only applies if the undocumented person has not committed any serious crimes. If they have, the police can keep them in jail by filing charges. Or ICE can present the police with a warrant or other order from a judge, which will result in a hold until ICE can come by.

Read more at the Washington Post: How sanctuary cities work, and how Trump’s executive order might affect them

Here’s a pretty real-life example of how this works: let’s take “Alex”, someone who is in the US without papers (and who is not a Dreamer). One day, Alex gets pulled over the police because his taillight is broken. The police find out that he has no driver’s license. They take Alex and put him in jail overnight because of the driver’s license infraction; otherwise Alex has no criminal record whatsoever. While Alex is in jail, the police puts his information into the federal database shared with ICE, and ICE puts a hold / detainer on him.

Remember: Alex is in jail for a driver’s license infraction. He has not committed any other crimes. The fact that he is an undocumented immigrant is not a crime. The police can hold him for what he’s done — drive without a license. But holding him past the time when he should be released, just so that immigration agents can come pick him up, is unconstitutional.

If Alex doesn’t live in a safe city, the police might hold him for days or longer until immigration agents pick him up, which might put Alex on the path to deportation even though he’s done nothing besides drive without a license. Even though this is currently what many cities and counties do – even though this is what the Trump Administration wants cities and counties to do – it’s illegal because it robs immigrants like Alex of due process.

If Alex does live in a safe city, the police would recognize that Alex has not committed any serious crimes and release him (in this example) after his one night in jail. That’s what they’re supposed to do. That’s why some also suggest that we call safe cities “ constitutional cities ”.

Why are safe cities important?

In a sentence, safe cities make everyone safer. This is because:

• The police can focus on going after serious criminals, rather than arresting or detaining immigrants just for being undocumented
• Cities, communities, and law enforcement want undocumented immigrants to trust the police. In order for the police to be most effective at their jobs, they need to be able to work with immigrants who report crimes, give tips, or testify as witnesses. In order for immigrants to trust the police, they need to know that an interaction with law enforcement won’t lead to their deportation.

Research backs this up; one analysis has shown that safe cities see 15% less crime than non-safe cities. Another found that two-thirds of the cities that had the highest jumps in murder rates in 2016 were not safe cities – in fact, they are the opposite, generally eager to hold immigrants for ICE pick-up and detention.

In contrast, scary things can happen when immigrants become afraid of the police. In Houston , the police chief noted that the number of Hispanics reporting rape is down 42.8% from last year, and the number reporting other violent crimes has dropped 13%. This is during a year when crimes reported by non-Hispanics increased . Immigrants in California also aren’t reporting sex crimes, while fears of deportation caused women in Colorado to drop domestic abuse cases in which they were witnesses.

That’s why so many law enforcement officers support safe city policies. That includes the Fraternal Order of Police , a membership organization which endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 election but has since told him to back off the idea of punishing cities or their police departments for immigrant-friendly safe city policies.

Here are some op-eds from law enforcement officers about why they support safe city policies. This is just a small sampling of the dozens of law enforcement officials who have spoken out in favor of safe cities:

• Tampa Bay, FL: Why sheriffs, feds are at odds on immigration
• Sioux County, IA: Sheriff responds to ‘sanctuary’
• Texas: Texas sheriffs: SB4 burdens law enforcement, local taxpayers

What does Trump want with safe cities?

The Trump Administration, and especially Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has repeatedly tried to target safe cities. They get in the way of the Administration’s mass deportation efforts, and Sessions has repeatedly threatened to defund them . But the law here is on the cities’ side, partly due to a conservative pet cause: states’ rights.

Safe cities and states’ rights

It’s ironic and hypocritical for Republican lawmakers to demand the safe cities and counties handle immigrants the way Trump and Sessions want cities and counties to handle them, because conservatives are supposed to support protecting local government from federal intrusion. Luckily, there are pretty solid Supreme Court rulings – some written by conservative justices — that protect states from the Trump Administration’s demands over safe city policies. According to the courts :

• The federal government cannot place conditions on grants to states and localities unless the conditions are “unambiguously” stated in the law
• The federal government cannot “commandeer” state and local officials to help them enforce federal law (for example, the government forcing the police to hold immigrants for ICE agents)
• The federal government cannot coerce states or localities into action with a financial “gun to the head”

The history of the Trump Administration and safe cities

Even though the Trump Administration is wrong on safe cities, it has repeatedly tried to attack them — and immigrant communities.

In March 2018, Sessions announced that he was filing a lawsuit against California and state policies which he deemed too immigrant friendly. Except, as Mark Joseph Stern at Slate wrote:

Sessions didn’t have the guts to go after California’s principal sanctuary law because he would undoubtedly lose. Instead, he has targeted three secondary policies that make up a small portion of the state’s broader immigration regime. Even if Sessions succeeded in overturning all three laws, California would remain a sanctuary state. But he probably won’t succeed in killing any of them. Perhaps this lawsuit is just another desperate attempt to win back President Donald Trump’s affections.

Sessions is targeting 1) a rule that bars California law enforcement agencies from sharing information about undocumented immigrants, 2) a state law that protects immigrants from workplace raids, and 3) an act allowing the California attorney general to inspect immigration detention facilities within the state. Stern noted that all three components of Sessions’ lawsuit effort are likely doomed, saying:

Sessions, a self-proclaimed defender of states’ rights, is seeking to undermine states’ ability to conduct their own affairs. He is intruding upon California’s police powers and undermining its protection of civil rights because he dislikes the state’s laws. Sessions may wish that every state would accede to his policy agenda. But he can’t use the Constitution to make them obey his commands.

Recently, the Department of Homeland Security and Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan have threatened local elected officials themselves for actions they’ve taken and actions their jurisdictions have taken to protect immigrants. As the ACLU wrote, these threats are “lawless and baseless”. Moreover:

The idea of these prosecutions is insidious. At bottom, the administration’s complaint is that localities are adopting policies with which it disagrees. This idea of locking up elected officials for their political speech, beliefs, and votes is contrary to the First Amendment and the democratic principles on which our country was founded. Even the suggestion is dangerous and reprehensible.

Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice letters

In April 2017, Sessions sent a letter to nine jurisdictions (one state, four cities, and four counties), telling them to get their safe city policies right with the Trump Administration, or else lose part of a $265 million grant intended to help police and prosecutors.

Except the threat in Sessions’ letter was ignorant of how immigration law works. What Sessions’ letter wanted the jurisdictions to do was obey a 1996 statute that says a city/county/state cannot prevent an official from talking to the feds about the immigration status of an individual. Almost every city and county in the country is in compliance with this requirement, including those that the Trump Administration considers to be safe cities. That part of the law is not even in dispute – yet Sessions for some reason saw fit to put jurisdictions on notice over it.

What Sessions (and Trump) ultimately want, of course, is for cities and counties to hold undocumented immigrants for ICE pickup and detention. But as explained above, when an immigrant has committed no crime, holding them for ICE is not consistent with current law, and cities and counties can be held liable for violating immigrants’ rights. Sessions was unable to explain away this incoherence during a meeting with the mayors of the cities he targeted , and the mayors eventually left confused. On a number of immigration issues, “we hear very different messages from (Homeland Security), DOJ and also the White House,” said Jorge Elorza, the Mayor of Providence, RI. “Just give us clarity and please have one, clear policy so we can know where we stand.”

In addition, for all of about two weeks, the Trump Administration published a weekly report of cities and counties that operated safe city policies. Except, as explained above, cities that don’t hold immigrants for ICE are operating in accordance with the law, while cities that do hold immigrants for ICE are behaving unconstitutionally – even though this is the opposite of what the Trump Administration wants to be true. A number of cities and counties clapped back against the Trump Administration for trying to name and shame them even though they were just following the law, forcing the Administration to apologize to a number of them and – after just a couple of weeks – stop publishing the reports altogether.

Trump’s executive order trying to defund safe cities

In January 2017, Trump signed an executive order calling on safe cities to comply with federal immigration law or else have federal funding pulled. But in April, a San Francisco judge blocked the order , saying that the president had overstepped his powers by trying to tie billions in federal funding to immigration enforcement, and that only Congress could place such conditions on spending. The judge also noted that federal funding conditions must be tied to the policy in question – for example, housing funds cannot be conditional on immigration laws.

Just as the judge striking down Trump’s Muslim ban did , the San Francisco judge used the words of the Trump Administration against itself , to prove that the intent behind Trump’s executive order was something other than what the government’s lawyers claimed in court. Once more, the big mouths behind Trump and his Administration are helping to defeat their own policies.

• Press Releases
• Immigration 101
• Reform is Urgent

Safety in the Modern World Essay

Nowadays, we live in a relatively peaceful world compared to the life of past generations. Despite that, there are numerous sources of danger whose impact on society should be reduced to maintain safety. The latter remains extremely important in various settings as people face risks of injuries and assaults in many situations.

The term “safety” can be explained in different ways. In general, being safe involves being protected from various risks. For instance, in the video on safety in Abu Dhabi, police officers maintain safety by catching a highway lawbreaker whose behavior on the road poses a threat to other drivers and pedestrians (MOIUAE, 2015). When it comes to a citizen or urban safety, this term relates to a more specific situation in which the government is acting through the defense and law-enforcement agencies to exercise its responsibilities and improve its citizens’ quality of life. The importance of safety in the world cannot be overstated as it remains the key element of a happy and prosperous life. With the development of modern technology, cyberspace safety has become a separate area of attention (Hollman, Bickford, & Hollman, 2017). Reducing the key risks that people face at the workplace or on the streets, specialists from different countries enable citizens to focus on their key tasks and responsibilities. The opportunity of every citizen to make positive contributions to society can be limited due to the presence of various factors, and maintaining safety remains an essential task. The existence of safety responsibility can be regarded as a factor that encourages specialists in socially significant fields to become more task-oriented and work with total efficiency. Within this framework, safety has a heavy influence on social life and well-being.

The effects of global safety on prosperity and the economy are numerous since safety runs through all aspects of life. On the one hand, the necessity to maintain safety involves significant financial contributions because successful safety management requires research. On the other hand, the ability to create a safe environment can be regarded as a key to the future, helping to save and grow money.

All people can contribute to the safety of their cities and other citizens. I believe that the key role of any citizen, including me, is to display vigilance and report the presence of suspicious individuals or objects as soon as possible (Kvalheim, Antonsen, & Haugen, 2016). Apart from that, common citizens can contribute to safety by attracting the attention of authorities to circumstances that can cause dangerous situations in the future. For example, such factors include faulty traffic lights, the lack of traffic signs, and other problems that can pose a threat to the safety of common people. To put it in other words, even though the government is supposed to play the key role in protecting people’s safety and health, a part of the responsibility lies on the shoulders of common citizens who are not expected to leave potential sources of danger unattended.

The government that collects taxes is responsible for managing financial resources and allocating enough money to create a strong safety control system. Apart from that, authorities are supposed to set high standards for the work of power-wielding agencies. Another area of governmental responsibility is providing such agencies with enough resources to perform orchestrated actions. Importantly, the video posted by MOIUAE (2015) illustrates the power of coherence and collaboration in neutralization.

In the end, authorities play a key role in maintaining safety because they have the power to set standards and compliance requirements. However, active citizens can also contribute to safety by reporting actual dangerous situations and potential threats. Therefore, safety can be seen as everyone’s responsibility.

Hollman, A., Bickford, S., & Hollman, T. (2017). Cyber insecurity: A post-mortem attempt to assess cyber problems from IT and business management perspectives. Journal of Cases on Information Technology , 19 (3), 42-70.

Kvalheim, S. A., Antonsen, S., & Haugen, S. (2016). Safety climate as an indicator for major accident risk: Can we use safety climate as an indicator on the plant level? International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction , 18 (1), 23-31.

MOIUAE. (2015). Abu Dhabi… Safe city [Video file]. Web.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, May 29). Safety in the Modern World. https://ivypanda.com/essays/safety-in-the-modern-world/

"Safety in the Modern World." IvyPanda , 29 May 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/safety-in-the-modern-world/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Safety in the Modern World'. 29 May.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Safety in the Modern World." May 29, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/safety-in-the-modern-world/.

1. IvyPanda . "Safety in the Modern World." May 29, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/safety-in-the-modern-world/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Safety in the Modern World." May 29, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/safety-in-the-modern-world/.

• Traffic Safety Education and Ways of Improvement
• The Royal Oman Police’ Traffic Safety
• Using Taxes to Address Traffic Safety Problems in Oman
• Air Traffic Controller Shiftwork and Aviation Safety
• Implementation Scenarios for traffic safety in Oman
• Traffic Fines and Penalties Effectiveness in the Uae
• How Solar Traffic Lights Works
• Nature of the Traffic Safety Problem in Oman
• Widcombe Parade Survey: Traffic Management
• Surveillance Menace in Sacramento: Cameras on Traffic Lights
• Same-Sex Marriage Discriminatory Law in Alabama
• Multi-Stream Framework for Policy Analysis
• Cell Phone Use While Driving: Policy Analysis
• Decision-Making in Forecasting Foreign Policy
• Marijuana Legalization in 5 Policy Frameworks

• IAS Preparation
• UPSC Preparation Strategy
• Safe City Project UPSC Notes

Safe City Project [UPSC Notes]

Recently, the Union Home Minister lauded the ‘Safe City Project’ as an advanced security system in preventing and investigating crimes. What is Safe City Project? How will it improve women’s safety in public places?   Read on to know more about Safe City Project, an important topic for the IAS exam .

Safe City Project:

• It aims to create a safe, secure and empowering environment for women in public places. 
• It is a cutting-edge security system meant for preventing and investigating crimes. 
• It will further maintain surveillance at crucial public installations.
• Launched in Bengaluru city.
• The project aspires to make the country’s police system the best in the world.

How will it help?

• It will enable citizens and especially women to pursue all opportunities without the threat of gender-based violence and/or harassment.
• It will make the police capable of meeting modern-day security challenges.
• It will also make the personnel and system adapt to technology to better manage evading detection of criminals.
• Similarly, the Centre for Internet Security had come up in Bengaluru in 2017 for dealing with the evolving security challenges.

The coverage:

• Currently it is being implemented on a trial basis.
• The Empowered Committee under Nirbhaya Fund approved Safe City projects in the following 8 selected cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.
• More than 4,100 security cameras and 8 camera mounted drones have also been procured.
• A mere push on the panic  button by anyone will connect them to control rooms at part of 30 security islands.
• The PCR van will reach the spot and the distressed person will get resolution in minutes.

Way forward: Evolving security challenges such as in the cyber and internet domains need the up to date personnel and cutting edge technological solutions. The Safe city project will prove to be a milestone in tackling security challenges, if implemented in true sense. Moreover, generating public awareness will be crucial to get the maximum benefit out of any such endeavors.

Safe City Project [UPSC Notes]:- Download PDF Here

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your Mobile number and Email id will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Request OTP on Voice Call

Post My Comment

IAS 2024 - Your dream can come true!

Download the ultimate guide to upsc cse preparation.

• Share Share

Register with BYJU'S & Download Free PDFs

Register with byju's & watch live videos.

Top Streams

• Data Science Courses in USA
• Business Analytics Courses in USA
• Engineering Courses in USA
• Tax Courses in USA
• Healthcare Courses in USA
• Language Courses in USA
• Insurance Courses in USA
• Digital Marketing Courses in USA

Top Specialization

• Masters in Data Analytics in USA
• Masters in Mechanical Engineering in USA
• Masters in Supply Chain Management in USA
• Masters in Computer Science in USA
• MBA in Finance in USA
• Masters in Architecture in USA

Top Universities

• Cornell University
• Yale University
• Princeton University
• University of California Los Angeles
• University of Harvard
• Stanford University
• Arizona State University
• Northeastern University

ACCEL PROGRAMS

• Master of Business Administration
• MS in Data Analytics
• MS in Computer Science
• Project Management Courses in Australia
• Accounting Courses in Australia
• Medical Courses in Australia
• Psychology Courses in Australia
• Interior Designing Courses in Australia
• Pharmacy Courses in Australia
• Social Work Courses in Australia
• MBA in Australia
• Masters in Education in Australia
• Masters in Pharmacy in Australia
• Masters in Information Technology in Australia
• BBA in Australia
• Masters in Teaching in Australia
• Masters in Psychology in Australia
• University of Melbourne
• Deakin University
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Monash University
• University of Sydney
• University of Queensland
• RMIT University
• Macquarie University
• Bachelor of Business Administration
• Bachelor of Computer Applications
• Data Science Courses in Canada
• Business Management Courses in Canada
• Supply Chain Management Courses in Canada
• Project Management Courses in Canada
• Business Analytics Courses in Canada
• Hotel Management Courses in Canada
• MBA in Canada
• MS in Canada
• Masters in Computer Science in Canada
• Masters in Management in Canada
• Masters in Psychology in Canada
• Masters in Education in Canada
• MBA in Finance in Canada
• Masters in Business Analytics in Canada
• University of Toronto
• University of British Columbia
• McGill University
• University of Alberta
• York University
• University of Calgary
• Algoma University
• University Canada West
• BBA in Canada, Trinity Western University
• BBA in Canada, Yorkville University
• Project Management Courses in UK
• Data Science Courses in UK
• Public Health Courses in UK
• Digital Marketing Courses in UK
• Hotel Management Courses in UK
• Nursing Courses in UK
• Medicine Courses in UK
• Interior Designing Courses in UK
• Masters in Computer Science in UK
• Masters in Psychology in UK
• MBA in Finance in UK
• MBA in Healthcare Management in UK
• Masters in Education in UK
• Masters in Marketing in UK
• MBA in HR in UK
• University of Oxford
• University of Cambridge
• Coventry University
• University of East London
• University of Hertfordshire
• University of Birmingham
• Imperial College London
• University of Glasgow
• MBA with Work Placement
• MSc Data Science with Work Placement

Top Resources

• Universities in Germany
• Study in Germany
• Masters in Germany
• Courses in Germany
• Bachelors in Germany
• Germany Job Seeker Visa
• Cost of Living in Germany
• Best Universities in Germany

Top Courses

• Masters in Data Science in Germany
• MS in Computer Science in Germany
• Marine Engineering in Germany
• MS Courses in Germany
• Masters in Psychology in Germany
• Hotel Management Courses in Germany
• Masters in Economics in Germany
• Paramedical Courses in Germany
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
• University of Bonn
• University of Freiburg
• University of Hamburg
• University of Stuttgart
• Saarland University
• Mannheim University
• Master of Business Administration (90 ECTS)
• MS Data Science 60 ECTS
• Master in Computer Science (120 ECTS)
• MBA in Ireland
• Phd in Ireland
• Masters in Computer Science Ireland
• Cyber Security in Ireland
• Masters in Data Analytics Ireland
• Ms in Data Science in Ireland
• Pharmacy courses in ireland
• Business Analytics Course in Ireland
• Universities in Ireland
• Study in Ireland
• Masters in Ireland
• Courses in Ireland
• Bachelors in Ireland
• Cost of Living in Ireland
• Ireland Student Visa
• Part Time Jobs in Ireland
• Trinity College Dublin
• University College Dublin
• Dublin City University
• University of Limerick
• Dublin Business School
• Maynooth University
• University College Cork
• National College of Ireland

Colleges & Courses

• Masters in France
• Phd in France
• Study Medicine in France
• Best Universities in Frankfurt
• Best Architecture Colleges in France
• ESIGELEC France
• Study in France for Indian Students
• Intakes in France
• SOP for France Visa
• Study in France from India
• Reasons to Study in France
• How to Settle in France

More About France

• Cost of Living in France
• France Study Visa
• Cost of Living in Frankfurt
• France Scholarship for Indian Students
• Part Time Jobs in France
• Stay Back in France After Masters

About Finland

• Universities in Finland
• Study in Finland
• Courses in Finland
• Bachelor Courses in Finland
• Masters Courses in Finland
• Cost of Living in Finland
• MS in Finland
• Average Fees in Finland Universities
• PhD in Finland
• MBA Leading Business Transformation
• MBA Business Technologies
• Bachelor Degree in Medicine & Surgery
• MBBS Courses in Georgia
• MBBS Courses in Russia
• Alte University
• Caucasus University
• Georgian National University SEU
• David Tvildiani Medical University
• Caspian International School Of Medicine
• Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University
• Kyrgyz State Medical Academy
• Cremeia Federal University
• Bashkir State Medical University
• Kursk State Medical University
• Andijan State Medical Institute
• IELTS Syllabus
• IELTS Prepration
• IELTS Eligibility
• IELTS Test Format
• IELTS Band Descriptors
• IELTS Speaking test
• IELTS Writing Task 1
• IELTS score validity
• IELTS Cue Card

IELTS Reading Answers Sample

• Animal Camouflage
• Types Of Societies
• Australia Convict Colonies
• A Spark A Flint
• Emigration To The Us
• The History Of Salt
• Zoo Conservation Programmes
• The Robots Are Coming
• The Development Of Plastic

IELTS Speaking Cue Card Sample

• Describe A Puzzle You Have Played
• Describe A Long Walk You Ever Had
• Describe Your Favourite Movie
• Describe A Difficult Thing You did
• Describe A Businessman You Admire
• Memorable Day in My Life
• Describe Your Dream House
• Describe A Bag You Want to Own
• Describe a Famous Athlete You Know
• Aquatic Animal

IELTS Essay Sample Sample

• Best Education System
• IELTS Opinion Essay
• Agree or Disagree Essay
• Problem Solution Essays
• Essay on Space Exploration
• Essay On Historical Places
• Essay Writing Samples
• Tourism Essay
• Global Warming Essay
• GRE Exam Fees
• GRE Exam Syllabus
• GRE Exam Eligibility
• Sections in GRE Exam
• GRE Exam Benefits
• GRE Exam Results
• GRE Cutoff for US Universities
• GRE Preparation
• Send GRE scores to Universities

GRE Exam Study Material

• GRE Verbal Preparation
• GRE Study Material
• GRE AWA Essays
• GRE Sample Issue Essays
• Stanford University GRE Cutoff
• Harvard University GRE Cutoff
• GRE Quantitative Reasoning
• GRE Verbal Reasoning
• GRE Reading Comprehension
• Prepare for GRE in 2 months

Other Resources

• Documents Required For Gre Exam
• GRE Exam Duration
• GRE at Home
• GRE vs GMAT
• Improve GRE Verbal Scores

Free GRE Ebooks

• GRE Preparation Guide (Free PDF)
• GRE Syllabus (Free PDF)
• GMAT Eligibility
• GMAT Syllabus
• GMAT Exam Dates
• GMAT Registration
• GMAT Exam Fees
• GMAT Sections
• GMAT Purpose

GMAT Exam Study Material

• How to prepare for GMAT?
• GMAT Score Validity
• GMAT Preparation Books
• GMAT Preparation
• GMAT Exam Duration
• GMAT Score for Harvard
• GMAT Reading Comprehension
• GMAT Retake Strategy

Free GMAT Ebooks

• GMAT Guide PDF
• Download GMAT Syllabus PDF
• TOEFL Exam Registration
• TOEFL Exam Eligibility
• TOEFL Exam Pattern
• TOEFL Exam Preparation
• TOEFL Exam Tips
• TOEFL Exam Dates
• Documents for TOEFL Exam
• TOEFL Exam Fee

TOEFL Exam Study Material

• TOEFL Preparation Books
• TOEFL Speaking Section
• TOEFL Score and Results
• TOEFL Writing Section
• TOEFL Reading Section
• TOEFL Listening Section
• TOEFL Vocabulary
• Types of Essays in TOEFL

Free TOEFL Ebooks

• TOEFL Exam Guide (Free PDF)
• PTE Exam Dates
• PTE Exam Syllabus
• PTE Exam Eligibility Criteria
• PTE Test Centers in India
• PTE Exam Pattern
• PTE Exam Fees
• PTE Exam Duration
• PTE Exam Registration

PTE Exam Study Material

• PTE Exam Preparation
• PTE Speaking Test
• PTE Reading Test
• PTE Listening Test
• PTE Writing Test
• PTE Essay Writing
• PTE exam for Australia

Free PTE Ebooks

• PTE Syllabus (Free PDF)
• Duolingo Exam
• Duolingo Test Eligibility
• Duolingo Exam Pattern
• Duolingo Exam Fees
• Duolingo Test Validity
• Duolingo Syllabus
• Duolingo Preparation

Duolingo Exam Study Material

• Duolingo Exam Dates
• Duolingo Test Score
• Duolingo Test Results
• Duolingo Test Booking

Free Duolingo Ebooks

• Duolingo Guide (Free PDF)
• Duolingo Test Pattern (Free PDF)

NEET & MCAT Exam

• NEET Study Material
• NEET Preparation
• MCAT Eligibility
• MCAT Preparation

SAT & ACT Exam

• ACT Eligibility
• ACT Exam Dates
• SAT Syllabus
• SAT Exam Pattern
• SAT Exam Eligibility

USMLE & OET Exam

• USMLE Syllabus
• USMLE Preparation
• USMLE Step 1
• OET Syllabus
• OET Eligibility
• OET Prepration

PLAB & LSAT Exam

• PLAB Exam Syllabus
• PLAB Exam Fees
• LSAT Eligibility
• LSAT Registration
• TOEIC Result
• Study Guide

Application Process

• LOR for Masters
• SOP Samples for MS
• LOR for Phd
• SOP for Internship
• SOP for Phd
• Check Visa Status
• Motivation Letter Format
• Motivation Letter for Internship
• F1 Visa Documents Checklist

Career Prospects

• Popular Courses after Bcom in Abroad
• Part Time Jobs in Australia
• Part Time Jobs in USA
• Salary after MS in Germany
• Salary after MBA in Canada
• Average Salary in Singapore
• Higher Studies after MBA in Abroad
• Study in Canada after 12th

Trending Topics

• Best Education System in World
• Best Flying Schools in World
• Top Free Education Countries
• Best Countries to Migrate from India
• 1 Year PG Diploma Courses in Canada
• Canada Vs India
• Germany Post Study Work Visa
• Post Study Visa in USA
• Data Science Vs Data Analytics
• Public Vs Private Universities in Germany
• Universities Vs Colleges
• Difference Between GPA and CGPA
• Undergraduate Vs Graduate
• MBA in UK Vs MBA in USA
• Degree Vs Diploma in Canada
• IELTS vs TOEFL
• Duolingo English Test vs. IELTS
• Why Study in Canada
• Cost of Living in Canada
• Education System in Canada
• SOP for Canada
• Summer Intake in Canada
• Spring Intake in Canada
• Winter Intake in Canada
• Accommodation in Canada for Students
• Average Salary in Canada
• Fully Funded Scholarships in Canada
• Why Study in USA
• Cost of Studying in USA
• Spring Intake in USA
• Winter Intake in USA
• Summer Intake in USA
• STEM Courses in USA
• Scholarships for MS in USA
• Acceptable Study Gap in USA
• Interesting Facts about USA
• Free USA course
• Why Study in UK
• Cost of Living in UK
• Cost of Studying in UK
• Education System in UK
• Summer Intake in UK
• Spring Intake in UK
• Student Visa for UK
• Accommodation in UK for Students
• Scholarships in UK
• Why Study in Germany
• Cost of Studying in Germany
• Education System in Germany
• SOP for Germany
• Summer Intake in Germany
• Winter Intake in Germany
• Study Visa for Germany
• Accommodation in Germany for Students
• Free Education in Germany

Country Guides

• Study in UK
• Study in Canada
• Study in USA
• Study in Australia
• SOP Samples for Canada Student Visa
• US F1 Visa Guide for Aspirants

Exams Guides

• Duolingo Test Pattern

Recommended Reads

• Fully Funded Masters Guide
• SOP Samples For Australia
• Scholarships for Canada
• Data Science Guide
• SOP for MS in Computer Science
• Study Abroad Exams
• Alumni Connect
• Booster Program

GPA CALCULATOR Convert percentage marks to GPA effortlessly with our calculator!

Expense calculator plan your study abroad expenses with our comprehensive calculator, ielts band calculator estimate your ielts band score with our accurate calculator, education loan calculator discover your eligible loan amount limit with our education calculator, university partner explore growth and opportunities with our university partnership, accommodation discover your perfect study abroad accommodation here, experience-center discover our offline centers for a personalized experience, our offices visit us for expert study abroad counseling..

• 18002102030
• Study Abroad

Life in A Big City Paragraph - IELTS Essay Samples For Writing Task 2

• IELTS Preparation
• IELTS E-Books
• IELTS Registration
• IELTS Exam Fee
• IELTS Exam Dates 2024
• Documents Required
• IELTS Test Centers
• Test Format
• Band Descriptors
• IELTS Speaking Test
• General Reading Test
• General Writing Task
• IELTS Coaching
• Types of Essays
• IELTS for Australia
• IELTS Results
• Generation Gap Essay
• GPA Calculator
• Study Abroad Consultant In India
• Study Visa Consultants in India

Updated on 13 April, 2023

Mrinal Mandal

Study abroad expert.

For this IELTS essay writing topic, you can either agree or disagree with the statement. That being said, it is critical to remember that the paragraph must be at least 250 words. 

However, the 40-minute time constraint often stresses students out, and they find it challenging to think of an answer and pick a side quickly. So, here are a few pointers to make 'life in a big city' paragraph writing easier.

• Read the topic thoroughly.
• Take the time to pick a stance.
• Use varied vocabulary.
• Structure the sentences correctly.
• Maintain a formal tone and avoid casual phrases.
• Divide the writing into paragraphs.
• Check and re-check for any incorrect spellings or grammar.

Table of Contents

Sample essay 1, download e-books for ielts preparation, sample essay 2, explore more resources related to ielts essays:, life in a big city paragraph.

Question: Many individuals think that living in a large metro city is harder, while others think it is a practical choice. Discuss both perspectives and share your own.

Are metro cities better or not? This has been an ongoing debate between city-dwellers and those living in towns. Rightfully so. Both have their advantages and drawbacks. A small town has better quality air and far less pollution than a city. Small town residents have the luxury of walking out of their homes to absolute tranquillity instead of the noise and bustle of a big city. Moreover, towns are much closer to nature and allow you to take a breather from the chaos of a concrete jungle. 

However, with stores on every corner and excellent accessibility to entertainment and the arts, living in a city is much more exciting. Moreover, cities offer job opportunities that would not be available in smaller towns. This is often also the main reason people move to a metropolitan area. Further, with quality institutions, cities allow people access to better quality education. In addition, cities also have spaces that offer greenery and serenity in parks and gated communities. People do not have to go hunting for it in smaller towns. Nevertheless, if one still wishes to enjoy the peace of a town, they can always take one of the many available modes of transportation to the nearest town. 

Like everything in this world, living in a city has pros and cons. However, the population in cities alone highlights its many advantages. Therefore, based on my personal analysis and experiences, it is much better to make a good living and enjoy the conveniences of a large metro city than to stay in a small town or hamlet.

Word Count: 261

Tentative Band Score: 6

Recommended Reads:

Question: Many people believe living in a major metropolitan city is tough, while others believe it is more convenient. Examine both points of view and then express your own.

Metro cities often house the larger part of the population in any country. They have great opportunities for education and employment, allow people easy access to entertainment and house shops such as departmental stores, clothing retailers, and even exotic marts at almost every corner. There are restaurants serving all types of cuisines, people speaking different languages, and varied modes of transportation that can take you anywhere. 

Regardless, cities are overcrowded. It is a fact that the air quality is below par, and quietness is often a luxury. Most people struggle to make ends meet due to the high prices of goods and skyrocketing rent. Besides, the busy life in the metro is often a huge source of stress and anxiety for most. Smaller towns, on the other hand, allow their people to breathe clean air, eat nutritious, uncontaminated food and enjoy a healthy social life. Neighbours often greet each other and come together to celebrate and, in time, become family. Moreover, with the advancement of technology, small towns hold just as much potential in terms of employment. The only struggle is the accessibility to good digital connectivity since they do not have as many signal towers as a metro.

Nevertheless, having considered the pros and cons of both, I realize that the advantages of living in a smaller town far outweigh that of living in a city. In fact, if a bit of disconnection affords one the luxury of living a healthy and quiet life, a small town is the way to go. After all, a city may have accessibility and options, but towns allow you to build a sustainable and holistic life.

Word Count: 273

Tentative Band Score: 6.5

Download IELTS Preparation Guide For Free

Get to know about the latest updates on the IELTS Exam, Eligibility, Preparation Tips, Test procedure,  Exam Pattern, Syllabus, Registration Process, Important Exam Dates, and much more!! This guide is a one-stop solution for every IELTS Aspirant who aims to crack the exam with an impressive band score.

Important IELTS Exam Resources

Ielts exam overview.

IELTS is required to be taken by international students and workers who wish to study or work in a country where English is the primary language of communication. Know the complete details.

IELTS Exam Syllabus

With the right knowledge of the IELTS exam syllabus and pattern, cracking the popular English test won’t be difficult.

• IELTS Exam Pattern

The IELTS exam pattern encompasses four major sections, i.e. listening, speaking, writing, and reading.

Register For IELTS

IELTS is the most popular and crucial test for evaluating English language proficiency throughout the world. Learn how to register for the IELTS exam.

IELTS Exam Eligibility Criteria

It becomes necessary for candidates to meet the eligibility for IELTS exam and demonstrate their language proficiency while being assessed on four parameters, namely, Writing, Reading, Speaking and Listening.

IELTS Exam Fees

The IELTS exam fee in India varies based on the types of IELTS tests. The link below shows detailed information on the IELTS exam fees.

IELTS Exam Dates 2022

The IELTS exam dates are allotted on a first-come and first-serve basis. Choose your date and timings beforehand to avoid the delay. You can register for the test both in online and offline mode.

IELTS Test Centres in India

Fully aware of the growing popularity of the language test, we bring to you a list of IELTS exam centers in India. The list will enable aspirants in better planning before registering for the test.

Band Score for Reading

IELTS reading band score decides the knowledge and proficiency of the English language of the applicants.

IELTS Listening Band Score

The listening section evaluates the comprehension level of candidates. The scores also depend on the understanding of different accents and dialects.

IELTS Score Validity

The IELTS score validity for General and Academic is two years across the globe. The IELTS result validity for Canada is two years.

• Types of IELTS Exam

There are two types of IELTS tests – i) Academic IELTS and ii) General Training IELTS. Candidates are often confused about making the right choice of IELTS test that can meet their requirements regarding their education or job.

Books for IELTS Preparation

Picking the best IELTS books for preparation is essential for scoring well. It may seem tough at first but cracking the examination successfully is not impossible.

IELTS Writing Task 2 Topics

Writing task 2 in IELTS is descriptive essay writing. The applicants are supposed to write an essay in response to the statement or situation given in the essay.

Tips for IELTS Writing

Before appearing for the test, let’s take a look at the below-mentioned IELTS writing tips and tricks to score well in the writing section.

Reading Section IELTS

Reading is the second part of the IELTS test and takes 60 minutes. It consists of three or sometimes four reading passages to increase difficulty, and there are a total of 40 questions to answer.

IELTS Speaking Preparation

Please note that your performance on the speaking test is assessed based on the following criteria- fluency and coherence, grammatical range and accuracy, lexical resource, and pronunciation.

Phrases for IELTS Speaking

There are many phrases for IELTS speaking that a candidate should practice beforehand. If you aim for band 9, you should know these phrases.

• IELTS Band Score Chart

IELTS is one of the most used English Language Proficiency Tests. The exam is scored in bands. Your IELTS band score determines the performance level of your test.

• IELTS Band Score

Understanding the IELTS band score is not difficult. The results of the examination are reported on a scale of 9 bands.

• IELTS Slot Booking

To book the IELTS exam, the candidates can either visit their nearest test center or book the slot online by visiting the official website of IDP. If they choose to go with the second option, they should follow the steps given below.

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1

IELTS Academic writing is meant for students who are applying for top-ranked universities and colleges in English-speaking countries. The writing task one is an academic summary writing based on diagrammatic and graphical representation.

• IELTS Writing Task 2

Writing Task 2 is the second part of the writing section of IELTS, where aspirants are presented with a point of view, argument, or problem and asked to write an essay in response to the question.

Writing Task 1 IELTS

In IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 starts with a diagram, a visual representation of information. It can be a table, map, graph, process, diagram, or picture.

IELTS Essay Samples

The essay for IELTS is part of Writing Task 2. It is the same for the General Training and Academic of the IELTS. You will get a topic and have to write an essay on the same.

IELTS Cue Cards

The IELTS speaking cue cards come into play for the second part when the candidate will be choosing cue cards and then speaking on a topic for two minutes at least.

Individual Greed and Selfishness

Which Of These Is The Easiest Way Of Communication

Letter Email Telephone Are Example Of Communication Channels

Nowadays the Way Many People Interact

To Understand the Most Important Characteristics of a Society One Must Study Its Major Cities

Advantages of Reading Books

Write About Your Family

Nowadays Many People Choose to be Self-employed

Learning is A Continuous Process

Famous Brands of Clothes

Important Exams

Important ielts essay resources, get free consultation for ielts, trending searches, university ranking, university acceptance rate.

• Purdue University World Ranking
• St Louis University Ranking
• University Of Illinois Springfield Qs Ranking
• University Of Prince Edward Island Ranking
• Srh Berlin Ranking
• Nyit Ranking
• Ranking Of York St John University
• Clark University Ranking
• University Of West London World Ranking
• Uts Ranking In Australia
• Adelphi University Ranking
• Saint Peter'S University Ranking
• University Of Dayton Qs Ranking
• University Of Kansas Qs Ranking
• Webster University Ranking
• Illinois Institute Of Technology World Ranking
• Sacred Heart University Visa Acceptance Rate
• University Of Queensland Acceptance Rate
• Trent University Acceptance Rate
• University Of Kent Acceptance Rate
• University Of Technology Sydney Acceptance Rate
• Swinburne University Acceptance Rate
• University Of Cologne Acceptance Rate
• University Of Freiburg Acceptance Rate
• Lewis University Visa Acceptance Rate
• Ontario Tech University Acceptance Rate
• Tu Darmstadt Acceptance Rate
• IELTS Line Graph
• Flooding And Its Impact
• Study in USA without IELTS
• IELTs Academic Writing
• IELTS Band Description
• Tips to Crack IELTS in First Attempt
• IELTS Important Vocabulary
• IELTS Speaking Topics
• Making Time for science
• Amateur Naturalists
• Literacy In Freedonia's Prisons
• Rapid Police Response
• IELTS Reading Band Score
• The Scientific Method
• Titan Of Technology
• Space Travel & Health
• Global Warming
• Light Pollution
• Honey Bees in Trouble
• Science In Space
• How to Be Confident While Speaking
• Nature & Nurture
• Emigration To The US
• Alzheimers Disease

The above tips are the Author's experiences. upGrad does not guarantee scores or admissions.

Call us to clear your doubts at:

Download our App

• Grievance Redressal
• Experience Centers
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• University Partner
• Accommodation
• IELTS Band Calculator
• Download Study Abroad App
• Education Loan Calculator
• upGrad Abroad Office
• Expense Calculator
• Knowledge Base
• Business Partner

Top Destinations

Masters programs.

• MBA in Germany, IU
• MIM in Germany, IU
• MS in CS in Germany, IU
• MS in Data Analytics in USA, Clark University
• MS in Project Management in USA, Clark University
• MS in IT in USA, Clark University
• MS in Data Analytics & Visualization in USA, Yeshiva University
• MS in Artificial Intelligence in USA, Yeshiva University
• MS in Cybersecurity, Yeshiva University

Study Abroad Important Blogs

• Cost of Study:
• Cost of Studying in Canada
• Cost of Studying in Ireland
• Cost of Studying in Australia
• Cost of living:
• Cost of living in UK
• Cost of living in Australia
• Cost of living in Germany
• Cost of living in Ireland
• Cost of living in Canada
• Career Opportunities:
• Career Opportunities in Australia
• Career Opportunities in Germany
• Job Opportunities in After MS in Canada
• Job Opportunities After MBA in Australia
• Job Opportunities After MS in UK
• IELTS Exam Resources:
• Academic IELTS
• IELTS Score for UK
• IELTS Score for USA
• Validity of IELTS Score
• IELTS Reading Tips
• How to Prepare for IELTS at Home Without Coaching
• IELTS Preparation Books
• IELTS Academic vs General
• IELTS Essay
• IELTS Exam Dates
• Top Streams:
• Fashion Designing Courses in Australia
• Accounting Courses in Canada
• Management Courses in Canada

Home — Essay Samples — Geography & Travel — Travel and Tourism Industry — The History of Moscow City

The History of Moscow City

• Categories: Russia Travel and Tourism Industry

About this sample

Words: 614 |

Published: Feb 12, 2019

Words: 614 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr. Karlyna PhD

Verified writer

• Expert in: Geography & Travel

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

9 pages / 3936 words

6 pages / 3010 words

2 pages / 1026 words

4 pages / 2143 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Travel and Tourism Industry

Travelling is a topic that has been debated for centuries, with some arguing that it is a waste of time and money, while others believe that it is an essential part of life. In this essay, I will argue that travelling is not [...]

Paris, known as the City of Light, is one of the most iconic and culturally rich cities in the world. My recent visit to Paris was an unforgettable experience that allowed me to immerse myself in the history, art, and beauty of [...]

Traveling is an enriching experience that allows individuals to explore new cultures, meet people from different backgrounds, and broaden their perspectives. In the summer of 2019, I had the opportunity to embark on an amazing [...]

Travelling has always been an exhilarating experience for me, and my recent trip to Rome was no exception. The ancient city, with its rich history and breathtaking architecture, left a lasting impression on me. It was a journey [...]

When planning a business trip all aspects and decisions rely heavily on the budget set by the company for the trip. Once Sandfords have confirmed the location careful consideration should be used to choose the travel method and [...]

4Sex Tourism in ThailandAs we enter a new millenium the post-colonial nations in the world are still searching for ways to compete in an increasingly globalized, consumption driven economic environment. Many developing countries [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

• San Juan City
• Our Company
• Organizational Chart
• Group Corporate Directory
• Shareholding Structure
• Group Corporate Structure
• Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws
• Investor Relations
• Annual Report
• Exchange Where Listed
• Share Information
• Top 100 Stockholders
• Total Outstanding Shares
• Corporate Governance
• Integrated Annual Corporate Governance Report (IACGR)
• Manual on Corporate Governance
• Board of Directors
• Board Committees
• Board Committee Charters
• Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
• Enterprise Risk Management
• Company Policies
• Care to Change
• Privacy Policy
• Disclosures
• Construction Updates
• Property Updates
• Stories and Features
• Search for: Search Button

Are you feeling cramped and claustrophobic in Metro Manila? Do you long for wide open spaces and the sound of waves crashing against the shore? If so, here’s why you should consider living in Davao City as your next place of residence.

Located on the island of Mindanao, Davao is the largest city in the Philippines in terms of land area. It’s also one of the most livable cities in the country, thanks to its rich culture, natural beauty, and business opportunities.

And not to forget, there are new and modern condo units for sale in Davao City that you can avail – should you ever consider Mindanao’s “Crown Jewel” as your new home.

In this article, we’ll give you five compelling reasons to make Davao City your new home.

Why Consider Living in Davao City ?

Surely, you’ve done your research and may probably have a shortlist of cities for your next home but aren’t that confident to push through with the move. To help you decide if Davao City is truly the place for you, listed below are five reasons this city serves as home to many Davaoeños.

• The safety of life in Davao City

Davao City is often hailed as the safest city in the Philippines. In fact, it was even named the second-most livable city in the country a couple of years ago, as reported by the SunStar . This is thanks to the city’s low crime rate and its proactive approach to safety.

For instance, the city has been recently named as the DTI’s fourth-most competitive in all highly urbanized cities in the Philippines, which is the same ranking it had in 2021, showing how much the locality continues to develop.

• It offers beautiful beaches and accessibility to nature

Davao City is blessed with stunning natural scenery. From its white sand beaches to its majestic mountains, there’s no shortage of beauty to be found here. And because the city is relatively large, you’ll never feel too far away from nature.

Here are three of the must-see beaches near Davao:

• Dahican Beach
• Kaputian Beach
• Starfish Island

And here’s a list of ten attractions and local spots that tourists, and even residents, must visit and experience at least once:

• Samal Island
• Malagos Garden Resort and Chocolate Museum
• Museo Dabawenyo
• Kadayawan Festival
• Roxas Night Market
• Jack’s Ridge
• Philippine Eagle Center, Crocodile Park, and Davao’s People’s Park
• Gaisano Mall of Davao, Abreeza Mall, and SM Lanang Premiere
• Eden Nature Park
• Potential business opportunities outside the metro

Davao City is not only a great place to live, but also a great place to do business. In fact, the city is gearing up to be an agricultural hub for investments , as reported by The Manila Times . Among other opportunities for investing, if you’re looking to get out of the hustle and bustle of Metro Manila, Davao City is definitely worth considering.

• It’s like Metro Manila but less crowded

Basically, Davao City has all the amenities of a big city, but without the massive crowds. You can find everything from malls to restaurants to hospitals here. But because the city is less populated than Metro Manila, you’ll never have to worry about fighting your way through a sea of people just to get where you’re going.

• It allows residents to enjoy a truly unique Filipino culture

Davao City – which offers the slogan, “Life Is Here” – is home to a diverse population, which means you can experience a wide variety of cultures within the city limits. From the traditional to the modern, there’s something for everyone in Davao City.

That being said, the Kadayawan Village is where you want to immerse in Davao if you want a taste of its rich local heritage, Rappler writes, as it is home to five different Lumad tribes, giving the community a sense of multiculturalism.

The Cost of Living in Davao City

Now that we’ve discussed some of the reasons you should consider living in Davao City, you’re probably wondering about the cost of living.

Compared to other cities in the Philippines, the cost of living in Davao City is relatively affordable. For example, a meal for two at a local resto will only set you back about PHP 500 or USD 8.58. And if you’re feeling a little fancier and want something more luxurious, you can easily find 5-star hotels and restaurants that won’t break the bank.

According to Livingcost.org, the average cost of living in Davao City is USD 598 , which converts to PHP 34,850, and ranks among the top 20 percent of least expensive cities in the country to live in.

So, if you’re looking for an affordable, livable, and safe city to call home, Davao City should be at the top of your list. With its beautiful beaches, accessibility to nature, and unique culture, there’s no wonder this city is one of the most livable in the Philippines.

Choose Anchor Land for Your Home in Davao

Davao City is often hailed as the safest city in the Philippines, making it a great choice for those looking for a new place to call home. The city has a low crime rate and its proactive approach to safety offers an appealing choice for families.

The city is also blessed with stunning natural scenery, from its white sand beaches to its majestic mountains, and is home to a diverse population that allows residents to experience a wide variety of cultures. And because the city is relatively large, you’ll never feel too far away from nature.

For all your modern and luxury residential needs, Anchor Land is pre-selling condo units in the heart of Davao City . Situated atop 202 Peaklane, residents can enjoy panoramic views of the cityscape and the Davao Gulf.

Each condo unit at Anchor Land is designed for optimum comfort and convenience, with top-of-the-line amenities such as a private pool, a fitness center, and 24/7 security. Enjoy the calm serenity of the province and the modern conveniences of the city here.

If you’re looking for an affordable, luxurious, and safe place to call home, Anchor Land is your sanctuary in the “Crown Jewel of the South” – Davao City.

Contact us today to learn more about our condominium units or to schedule a tour.

Add your Comment

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• March Madness
• AP Top 25 Poll
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

New York City to send 800 more officers to police subway fare-beating

FILE - Police officers patrol in the passageway connecting New York City’s Port Authority bus terminal and the Times Square subway station, Dec. 12, 2017. New York City plans to intensify a crackdown on subway fare-beating by sending at least 800 police officers specifically to keep watch on turnstiles, officials announced Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

• Copy Link copied

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City plans to intensify a crackdown on subway fare-beating by sending at least 800 police officers specifically to keep watch on turnstiles, officials announced Monday.

It’s the latest in a string of recent moves to address concerns about safety and unruliness in the nation’s busiest subway system. Hours after the announcement, a person was shoved onto the tracks in East Harlem as a train was approaching the station. The train could not stop and the person was struck and was pronounced dead at the scene, the New York Police Department said.

A 45-year-old man was taken into custody. NYPD said the incident was unprovoked.

The NYPD said earlier Monday it plans to deploy hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes officers this week to deter fare evasion.

“The tone of law and order starts at the turnstiles,” department Transit Chief Michael Kemper said at a news conference. Chief of Patrol John Chell said the additional officers would fan out to various stations, based on crime, ridership statistics and community complaints.

Data shows the crackdown on fare-skippers is already under way. Over 1,700 people have been arrested on a charge of turnstile-jumping so far this year, compared to 965 at this time in 2023. Police have issued fare evasion tickets to over 28,000 people so far this year.

A single subway ride is $2.90, though multiple-ride and monthly passes can cut the cost. Officials have complained for years that fare evasion costs the city’s transit system hundreds of millions of dollars a year. However, the policing of turnstile-jumpers has drawn scrutiny of tickets and arrests that disproportionately affected Black and Hispanic people, at least in some past years.

Police and Mayor Eric Adams, a former transit officer himself, in recent weeks have suggested some links between fare-skipping and violence on the trains.

Subway safety fears have proven difficult to put to rest since people in New York and other cities emerged from COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns to a 2021 spurt in crime .

After taking office in 2022, Adams rolled out a plan to send more police, mental health clinicians and social service outreach workers into the subways.

Police reports of major crimes in the transit system dropped nearly 3% from 2022 to 2023, and officials said Monday that overall crime so far this month is down 15% compared to last year.

But worries ratcheted up after some shootings and slashings in the last few months, prompting the NYPD to say in February that it was boosting underground patrols . Earlier this month, Gov. Kathy Hochul — like Adams, a Democrat — announced she was sending National Guard troops to help conduct random bag checks in the underground system.

Hours before Monday’s news conference, a man was stabbed multiple times on a subway train in a dispute over smoking, police said. A suspect was arrested.

to submit an obituary

For information on submitting an obituary, please contact Daily News by phone at (530)-737-5046, or email at [email protected].

Safe words: Essay winner points to…

Share this:.

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)
• Coronavirus

Latest Headlines

Safe words: essay winner points to responsibility of all to country.

RED BLUFF – We are all responsible for keeping the United States safe, according to Olivia Owens, an eighth-grader at Berrendos Middle School.

Owens was the first-place winner of the American Legion Auxiliary, Unit 167 Essay Contest this year.

The prompt for the contest was titled “Who is responsible to keep our country safe?”

The message contained in the essay is centered on the idea that every American citizen holds a responsibility to create safety for the betterment of the country.

In part, she wrote, “The United States citizens are responsible for our country and its doings; therefore keeping us under control and safe from one another is important when electing a responsible government. In other words, without a functioning society, we cannot have a functioning government. If we do not have a good government, bad decisions can be made for our country by our country representatives, which could lead to the fallout of the United States. All in all, whether you are a member of the military, a representative of our country, or just a regular citizen, your role in keeping the United States safe is important. In order to keep our country safe, a stable society is the basis of a responsible government and a powerful military.”

American Legion Auxiliary, Unit 167 Unit President Daleen Baker and Lois Barnes, the essay co-chairperson, presented the awards to the winners of the essay contest. In second place was Xander Gozzo, and in third place Reese Whitaker.

American Legion Unit 167 is thankful to the teachers and faculty of Berrendos Middle School for their cooperation and assistance and to Lariat Bowl, Tehama District Fair, Domino’s Pizza, and Round Table Pizza for donating prizes for the essay contest winners.

More in News

Housing | Californians face 76% surge of cities with million-dollar home prices

Maintaining Tehama County infrastructure comes with $23 million price tag

The County-Seat Question and a Legendary Trunk | Tales from Tehama

Events leading up to the 103rd Red Bluff Round-Up

4.8 magnitude earthquake rattles NYC, New Jersey: Live updates

NEW YORK – A 4.8 magnitude earthquake recorded in New Jersey that shook residents in surrounding states and New York City on Friday morning was one of the strongest in state history.

The temblor was reported about 5 miles north of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, at about 10:23 a.m. Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The epicenter was about 45 miles from New York City, where residents reported shaking furniture and floors.

“Earthquakes in this region are uncommon but not unexpected. It’s likely people near the epicenter are going to feel aftershocks for this earthquake in the magnitude 2-3 range, and there’s a small chance there can be an earthquake as large or larger, following an earthquake like this,” Paul Earle, a seismologist at the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program told reporters. “In terms of our operations, this is a routine earthquake … Immediately we knew this would be of high interest and important to people who don’t feel earthquakes a lot.”

People reported feeling the shaking as far north as Maine and as far south as Norfolk, Virginia, following the quake, according to USGS. Scientists said those in the affected area should listen to local emergency officials and be prepared to seek cover if aftershocks occur.

“If you feel shaking, drop, cover and hold,” Earle said.

No major disruptions or damage have been reported in New Jersey or New York.

"We have activated our State Emergency Operations Center. Please do not call 911 unless you have an actual emergency," said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

President Joe Biden spoke with Murphy about the earthquake and the White House is monitoring the situation.

“He thinks everything's under control,” Biden told reporters before leaving the White House for a trip to Baltimore. “He’s not too concerned about it, the governor of New Jersey, so things are all right.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the quake was felt throughout New York, and officials are assessing impacts and any potential damage.

In Yonkers, New York, Mayor Mike Spano said City Hall shook but no injuries were reported.

"A few moments ago our entire house shook for about 25 seconds or so here in Mendham, New Jersey," former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said.

USGS is still investigating the exact fault line at the center of Friday’s quake and said it occurred in a region with dozens of fault lines that were more active millions of years ago.

4.0 magnitude aftershock strikes hours after earthquake

Officials in New York and New Jersey alerted residents to an aftershock Monday evening, nearly eight hours after the earthquake.

A 4.0 magnitude aftershock slammed New Jersey at around 6 p.m., with an epicenter about four miles southwest of Gladstone, according to the USGS. New York City’s emergency notification system alerted residents to the aftershock minutes later, urging people to remain indoors and call 911 if injured.

Hochul said there were no reports of serious damage after the aftershock, and officials were continuing to assess critical infrastructure.

The aftershock Monday evening was at least the third that USGS recorded after the quake struck.

As of Friday afternoon, the USGS aftershock forecast predicted a 36% chance of aftershocks at a 3.0 magnitude or higher, an 8% chance of aftershocks at a 4.0 magnitude or higher, and a 1% chance for aftershocks at a magnitude of 5.0 or higher over the next week.

USGS scientists said informal observations can be a big help in understanding earthquakes, especially in a region where they’re less common.

“We encourage people to fill out the ‘Did You Feel It?’ reports on our website,” said Sara McBride, a scientist with the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program. “This citizen science project is critical in terms of building our knowledge around earthquakes.”

By midafternoon on Friday, the agency said it had received more than 161,000 reports, and extrapolated that the quake had been felt by millions of people. McBride acknowledged that earthquakes can be nerve-wracking for people who don’t live in seismologically active regions, and said knowledge is power in combatting that discomfort.

“The best thing you can do to relieve any unsettling feelings you might have is to learn how to protect yourself during shaking and how to prepare for earthquakes in the future,” she said.

Man getting vasectomy during earthquake recounts experience

One Horsham, Pennsylvania, man shared his unusual earthquake experience, saying the tremors hit when he was in the middle of receiving a vasectomy.

"The surgeon sort of froze and all of us kind of seemed a bit confused," Justin Allen told USA TODAY . "Even when the surgeon said 'that’s gotta be an earthquake,' I thought he was joking."

Luckily, Allen's doctor was able to resume the procedure after a brief pause, and the rest went off without a hitch. Now recovering at home, Allen said it's an experience no one involved will forget, especially because his social media post about the incident has since gone viral.

"My wife says that 'this is a clear and obvious sign that we should not have any more kids,'" Allen said.

New Jersey resident thought sound from earthquake was an explosion

Madeline Nafus had just finished feeding her 7-week-old baby when, simultaneously, she was thrown off balance and the loudest sound she’d ever heard rang out.

“I thought it was either an explosion or a bombing because of how loud it was,” said Nafus, who lives in Long Valley, New Jersey, a few miles from the earthquake's epicenter. “It was just terrifying.”

Nafus, 29, watched as her light fixtures swung and wine glasses, framed photos and a 6-foot elk head crashed onto the floor. Feeling as if her “house was going to crumble,” she picked up her baby boy, grabbed some blankets and headed outside. Meanwhile, her friend came running downstairs and picked up Nafus’ quivering dog, Olivia, a small golden doodle.

After about 15 seconds, the rumbling went away and only occasional, minor tremors could be felt. Nafus called her husband, who was teaching a golf lesson at the time, and then their 2-year-old’s day care.

“They said the children were all confused and asking a lot of questions but that they were OK,” she said.'

How common are East Coast quakes?

Earthquakes are less frequent in the eastern part of the country than in the west, but they have occurred in every state east of the Mississippi River, according to the USGS.

"Since colonial times people in the New York – Philadelphia – Wilmington urban corridor have felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from infrequent larger ones," according to the USGS. "Moderately damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the urban corridor roughly twice a century, and smaller earthquakes are felt roughly every two to three years."

USGS officials also said that even smaller-magnitude quakes are more likely to be felt more widely on the East Coast than similar size quakes on the West Coast due to the rock properties of eastern soil, which can cause concern to East Coasters not used to the tremors.

Rocks in the eastern part of the country are much older than in the west, by up to millions of years. Those older rocks have been exposed to more extreme temperatures and pressure, and faults have had more time to heal. Seismic waves travel across the resulting harder and denser faults much more efficiently, so the effects of a quake are felt across a larger area. In the West, faults are newer and absorb more of the seismic wave energy without spreading as far.

Quake felt in Massachusetts

In Auburn, Massachusetts, more than 200 miles from the earthquake's epicenter, Jerry Steinhelper was on a video call for work when his house began to tremble. His dog Maize started barking, and books and trinkets fell from their shelves. He looked out the window and saw trees shaking.

“I thought at first it may be ice falling off the roof. But it kept going and the entire house was shaking,” he told USA TODAY. “Then I just knew it was an earthquake.”

Steinhelper, 55, lived in San Diego in the 1980s and experienced temblors there, but he’s never felt one in Massachusetts, where he’s been for over 25 years.

“It was an interesting 10 to 15 seconds,” he said.

'It felt like a plane crashed outside' near epicenter

Nicole Kravitz, 33, was baking muffins at the cafe she co-owns with her husband in New Jersey when the floor began to shake. She and the cooks looked at each other for a few moments, and then at some stacked plates and glasses that had started vibrating.

Their eatery, Branchburg's Best, is located in New Jersey's Somerset County, near the epicenter of Friday’s earthquake.

“It felt like a plane crashed outside,” she said. “No one knew what was happening.”

Some workers ran out the door to see if something had smashed into the building while she checked the basement for damage. Meanwhile, Patrick Tucker, her husband, who was picking up beef from a nearby farm, watched agitated chickens and cows run around in their pens, visibly shaken by the quake.

Kravitz said the intensity of the earthquake made her feel like she was back in Southern California, where she had lived for several years before she returned to her home state in 2016.

Quake was one of the strongest to ever impact New Jersey

Friday's earthquake was the most significant in New Jersey since 1884 , when an Aug. 10 earthquake somewhere near Jamaica Bay, New York, toppled chimneys and moved houses off their foundations as far as Rahway, New Jersey, 30 miles away.

Other than that quake, there were only  three earthquakes in modern history  that caused damage in the state: 1737 (New York City), 1783 (west of New York City) and 1927 (New Jersey coast near Asbury), according to New Jersey Office of Emergency Management records.

The Dec. 19, 1737 earthquake is believed by modern experts to have been a 5.2 magnitude quake. Charted as taking place in the greater New York City area, some accounts say its epicenter was near Weehawken. State records show it threw down chimneys. Chimneys were also hurled down during the Nov. 29, 1783 quake. Estimated at a 5.3 magnitude that originated in modern-day Rockaway Township, according to state records, it was felt from Pennsylvania to New England.

The Aug. 10, 1884 quake, estimated at a 5.2 magnitude was the last the state has seen of its significance and was felt from Virginia to Maine, according to state records.

  Read more about New Jersey's earthquake history.

– David M. Zimmer, NorthJersey.com

New Jersey business owner describes worst quake ever felt but went right back to work

It was a busy day for La Bella Salon & Spa in Lebanon, New Jersey, when an earthquake struck near the rural township.

About a dozen stylists and customers, some whom were getting their hair dyed while others got manicures and eyelash extensions, all froze as the building rattled for about 30 seconds.

“People started to feel the shaking, and it got worse and worse. We were like ‘Oh, my god, what is going on?’" said shop owner Rosanne Drechsel. “I thought a truck hit the building or something.”

After the tremor subsided, nearly everyone in the building started receiving texts and phone calls from friends and family, Drechsel, 61, said.

Nothing was damaged and no one was injured, but Drechsel, who was born and raised in New Jersey, said it was “by far the worst earthquake” she had ever felt.

“We all went back to work and finished the appointments,” she said. “Customers are calling now to see if we're still open and if they can still make their appointments later on today.”

'It was scary': Quake rattles shelves in Brooklyn bodega

In Brooklyn, residents said they felt their buildings shake and many went outdoors after the rumbling stopped to check in with neighbors.

Julio Melo, a deli worker, said he thought the sounds of the earthquake resembled those of a large truck going down the street. But when Melo, 32, looked around and saw beer bottles rattling on store shelves, and a potted plant shimmy down the counter, he thought it might be something bigger, he told USA TODAY.

“I looked at my employee and he had the same tragic face on as me, it was scary,” he said at Jenesis’ Grocery Corp. in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

– Claire Thornton

Where was the earthquake felt?

Residents and officials said the earthquake was felt throughout New York, as well as in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. It was also felt as far away as Cambridge, Massachusetts, about 250 miles away from the reported epicenter.

Charita Walcott, a 38-year-old resident in the Bronx borough of New York, said the quake felt "like a violent rumble that lasted about 30 seconds or so."

"It was kind of like being in a drum circle, that vibration," she said.

Earthquakes common in the region, but the size is unusual: Expert

Chuck Ver Straeten, a geologist and curator of sedimentary rocks at the New York State Museum, told USA TODAY it’s not surprising this earthquake happened where it did.

“New York, around New York City going into New Jersey, there’s a lot of earthquakes historically down there. Happens every year,” he said. But it’s less common for them to be of such a high magnitude. It’s not surprising that many people felt it, he said. Usually, earthquakes in the region are at a lower magnitude and less likely to be felt.

Ver Straeten said the real question now is if this is just a precursor to a larger quake.

“You never know what is the earthquake, what is a pre-earthquake, what is an earthquake happening after the main earthquake, you just have to see,” he said. “One slip along the rock fault, when one happens, it makes other areas around there more tense also and they start to slip and you slip again and slip again.”

But, he added, it would be unlikely for a larger quake to follow this one. In the Northeast, it’s more common for one large quake to be followed by smaller aftershocks, rather than a mounting series of tremors. 

What does magnitude mean in an earthquake?

Magnitude is a measurement of the strength of an earthquake . Officially it's called the Moment Magnitude Scale . It's a logarithmic scale , meaning each number is ten times as strong as the one before it. So a 5.2 earthquake is moderate while a 6.2 is strong.

The magnitude and effect of an earthquake, according to Michigan Technological University :

◾ Below 2.5: Generally not felt

◾ 2.5 to 5.4: Minor or no damage

◾ 5.5 to 6.0: Slight damage to buildings

◾ 6.1 to 6.9: Serious damage

◾ 8.0 or greater: Massive damage, can totally destroy communities

Intensity scales, measured in Roman numerals, are used to describe how strong the earthquake felt to people in the area.

According to the California Earthquake Authority , an intensity of I is typically felt only under especially favorable conditions. A IV, which leads to light shaking, is felt indoors by many, but not typically outdoors. It might awaken some people at night and lead to a sensation like a truck striking a building. A parked car would rock. Intensities VI and above would be strong, frightening and felt by all, with the damage increasing up to a X where the shaking would be violent. Some well-built wooden structures would be destroyed and most masonry and frame structures along with their foundations would be ruined.

While you might have heard the term " the Richter Scale " used to describe earthquakes, it is no longer commonly used because it was only valid for certain earthquake frequencies and distance ranges.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Contributing: Reuters