ABSTRACT
There has been much triumphal talk of the role of cities in addressing ecological and economic challenges, yet crime and harm remain abundant in many cities and in their many sub-areas. These problems are rooted in inequalities and forms of exclusion generated in large part by the economic, social and political structures of cities globally. Throughout this book we have tried to work with the principles of critical approaches to harm that go beyond the sense that injury to individuals, communities and environments can be fully captured by notions of law. Intensifying planetary urbanisation intersects with accelerating damage to nature as well as new and complex geographies of inequality, violence, precariousness, inclusion and injustice. The background of deepening climate change and global economic instability will likely create new human harms focused upon urban centres. The chapter offers a series of short reflections on what we believe to be particularly promising areas for examination in the future. We conclude by arguing that studies of crime and harm in cities are only valuable to the extent that they offer a critical approach to power and inequality and where they include questions of social vulnerability, inequality and social justice more broadly.
