Human safety and security for sustainable and inclusive settlements

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all member states of the United Nations (UN) in 2015. One year later, Habitat III, the first UN global summit to adopt the sustainable development agenda, took place in Quito, Ecuador. Habitat III served as a forum for discussing the planning and management of human settlements for promoting sustainability. Global stakeholders are increasingly acknowledging that Agenda 2030 must embrace people-centred approaches to address the interconnectivity of today’s challenges in order to deliver its transformative promise to human settlements. To this end, human safety and security, which is concerned with whether people live in conflict or peace, provides an effective programming framework for promoting inclusive and sustainable human settlements. This paper explores the nexus between human security and the sustainable development of human settlements. Drawing on a broad range of literature, the paper begins by considering the conceptual basis of sustainable development through the lens of inclusivity. This is followed by a detailed explanation of why human security is central to promoting the sustainability of settlements. The paper also offers some insight into measuring and modelling human security for the purpose of sustainable settlement programming. The paper concludes by offering some thoughts about why statutory public safety stakeholders should work with communities and civil society in order to secure and sustain positive gains for human settlements.