This book gives account of different strategies showing an impact on urban safety and security in European and non-European cities - being it the main goal or only a 'secondary effect' of the observed urban policies, and being their result real or only perceived. The essays describe the process, the stakeholders as well as the peculiar tools that have been employed. They reveal site-specific consequences both on the urban fabric as well as on the lifestyle of different social groups.
Two of the trhee described scientific works are lead by IUAV University of Venice, the other one by SUPSI and performed with the contribution of IUAV scholars.
Reducing Boundaries considers the way in which the high and upper-middle classes configure as a goal the preservation of their own security, and the ensuing strategies they put in action in order to achieve it.
Mobile A2K- Culture and Safety in Africa focuses on the role of public art actions in the perception of safety and security expressed by the local population of the violent African cities of Douala, Luanda and Johannesburg.
Sharing Space aims at acquiring expertise and knowledge on different features of the international migration phenomenon, with the purpose of gaining an understanding of the nexus between international migrants and the cities' collective urban space.
Each chapter is concluded by a Focus on: a complementary essay, edited by a visual design curator or a communication designer, originating from similar although separated research questions.
The three principal investigations are qualified by a cross-disciplinary approach: research teams include urban designers, policy planners, communication designers, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers and other experts. All works were based on field researches and comparative studies. They were made possible thanks to open calls supported by prestigious international scientific institutions, mainly the European Research Agency and the Swiss Network for International Studies.

Emanuela Bonini Lessing holds a Ph.D. in Design Sciences and is Assistant Professor at IUAV University of Venice. Her work deals primarily with communication theory and design in European cities and regions. Her publications include the book Interfacce metropolitane. Frammenti di corporate identity (Milan 2010). Coordinator of the research project Reducing Boundaries, she has been awarded in 2013 and 2014 by the German Academic Exchange Service.