Urban Violence

There may not be such a thing as a perfect city, but all great cities have moments of perfection - perfect streets or buildings, perfect places to raise a family or to relax with a coffee - and all of them strive for perfection when they undertake grand projects...Joe Berridge, one of the world's leading urban planners, takes us on an insider's tour of the world's largest and most diverse cities, from New York to London, Shanghai to Singapore, Toronto to Sydney, to examine what is working and not working, what is promising and what needs to be fixed in the contemporary megalopolis.

He's been trying to love himself for as long as he's been alive. At almost thirty-years-old, Saint Samuels hates his dark skin and his toxic relationship is proof of that. When his lover of five years puts his hands on him for the last time, he runs from the only thing he ever thought was love, into the arms of Harlem, New York. With the help of his fiesty Uncle Tremaine, Saint settles into the city and his journey of self-love and discovery begins. He collects bits of wisdom from people he encounter: Fox, the self-proclaimed "black unicorn" with an overflow of black girl magic; Darius, her...

Denim Mitchell is excited to learn that she’s been selected to tutor students after school. Not only will this earn her extra credit in her honors classes, but it will also look good on her college applications. Fourteen-year-old Julius Graham enjoys working with his new tutor, but when he becomes the only witness to a horrific crime in his neighborhood, Julius shuts down emotionally. He hasn’t told anyone what he saw, but with the detectives hanging around his house asking questions, he fears that it’s only a matter of time before the murderer comes looking for him.

Social scientists have long argued over the links between crime and place. The authors of Communities and Crime provide an intellectual history that traces how varying images of community have evolved over time and influenced criminological thinking and criminal justice policy.

They’re sometimes called “Bad Girls” as society looks down on one of the oldest professions in the world. Sometimes on dark lonely streets or brazen daylight walks they show off their wares. What makes people want to have Freak Off parties? What drives a woman to do what a man’s wife won’t do or his girlfriend or any woman that just says no, for a fee? Let’s take a look in the city that never sleeps on those dangerous but sometimes prosperous streets and go behind the scenes in this edition of Street Stories NYC Street Walkers.

He's touching the front of his coat, feeling the shape of the gun. Should have got rid of it. On any other night, any other job, he would. This isn't any other job. This, he intends, will be his last... It begins with two deaths: a money-man and a grass. Deaths that offer a unique opportunity to a man like Calum MacLean. A man who has finally had enough of killing. Meanwhile two of Glasgow's biggest criminal organisations are at quiet, deadly war with one another. And as Detective Michael Fisher knows, the biggest - and bloodiest - manoeuvres are yet to come...

Deux jeunes gens se cherchent du regard dans un pub londonien, échangent quelques mots, se revoient. Lui tente de percer dans la photographie, elle est danseuse. Ils partagent la même ambition, les mêmes blessures et bientôt un amour aussi fusionnel que tendre. "Open Water" raconte ce que c'est d'être noir dans une ville qui tantôt vous acclame, tantôt vous rejette. Une ville où l'on vous regarde plutôt que l'on vous voit. Le racisme insidieux qui abîme et la peur qui étreint lorsqu'on sort de chez soi.

From USA Today Bestselling Author Nathan Goodman A broken beer bottle, a woman's scream, then all hell breaks loose Peyton's one mistake had been stepping into that notorious biker bar. But when a shadowy figure emerges to save her, he leaves a wake of destruction in his path. Now with seven of their gang dead, the bikers are looking for revenge and will stop at nothing to kill her. As Peyton goes into hiding, she knows that if she is to survive, she'll have to overcome her fears and take the fight to them. As her inner rage boils over, Peyton inadvertently endangers herself, and ...

Most Wanted Felon From the outside looking in, China Daniels lives the life every woman dreams of - nice home, lovely daughter, and a wonderful marriage. But in reality, things could not be further from the truth. At the discovery of a secret that her loving husband has desperately tried to conceal, the truth unleashes a series of events that could not only destroy her family and livelihood, but will make China Daniels a MOST WANTED FELON!

Our pasts came for me, and I was helpless against the tide as they dragged me away. Texas I was thrown out like trash in a Texas dumpster. My family if you can call them that gave me my name to remind me of where I came from, and what I was garbage. They said I owed them for the roof over my head, and the food they provided. I did horrible things, and my soul was slowly burning, and turning to ash. I belonged to them, and I have the collar to prove it. I wanted freedom, I wanted to escape the hell I was born into. Then I met him, and my life changed that freedom I wanted was just there at ...

Life is a magical journey. Especially when graced with an unexpected healing power... Never did I imagine the responsibility of such a gift. I'm Jess 'Lonewolf', a young rebel. From street fights to living on the streets, I've seen it all. Living at the halfway house in Philly is no easy ticket. Others want to capitalize on my newfound power. Bad people. Powerful people. Where can I run? I'm already dodging too many of my own demons...passed from foster home to foster home...on probation for petty theft. Then a mysterious Sensei visits a neighborhood dojo imparting a profound teaching...My ...

Are the seven sins deadly in the Streets? Or is it self-preservation? DEMON KNIGHT by Avorey Washington (The sin of Wrath) Pride by Ms. Pantha Jones (The sin of Pride) The Lust-Up by Kieshawn Whaley-(The sin of Lust) Gluttony of Spirits by Tiara Bland (The sin of Gluttony) The Kind and the Pawn by Green-Eyed Puerto Rican (The sin of Greed) Prodosia by Avorey Washington (The sin of Envy) Evil Brain Angel Heart by EBAH (The sin of Sloth) We know the seven deadly sins mean eternal damnation but in the streets, it can be used as a tool of survival or your downfall. Each of these stories brings ...

6th December 1993. A drug dealer called Scrappy is shot and left for dead on her mother’s lawn in South Central Los Angeles. Two local gang members, Wizard and Dreamer, are arrested. The problem is: one is guilty, the other wasn’t even there. It had to be a frame-up. And the cops had to be responsible, didn’t they?

Urban survival focuses on keeping safe in your daily life as well as a crisis. It’s having a plan, and developing the skills needed to not just survive, but thrive in an urban environment. It is not a “prepper” mentality of waiting for a pending threat. It is accepting the fact that we live in turbulent times. Just watch the news. Every day there is a shooting, people being beaten, stabbed, pushed in front of oncoming subway trains, social unrest, and political threats. Forewarned is forearmed. Let’s get to that plan!

The North Will Rise Again covers the colourful adventures of its inhabitants, the expansiveness and optimism that defines Northern culture, and the recurrent sense of failure and despair that is at the heart of one of the West’s most impoverished regions. By telling the story of the North in the last few decades, Alex goes in search of answers to some of the big questions at the forefront of British politics and society today.

For more than four decades after gaining independence, India, with its massive size and population, staggering poverty and slow rate of growth, was associated with the plodding, somnolent elephant, comfortably resting on its achievements of centuries gone by. Then, in the early 1990s, the elephant seemed to wake up from its slumber and slowly begin to change - until today, in the first decade of the 21st century, some have begun to see it morphing into a tiger. As India turns 60, Shashi Tharoor, novelist and essayist, reminds us of the paradox that is India.

6th December 1993. A drug dealer called Scrappy is shot and left for dead on her mother’s lawn in South Central Los Angeles. Two local gang members, Wizard and Dreamer, are arrested. The problem is: one is guilty, the other wasn’t even there. It had to be a frame-up. And the cops had to be responsible, didn’t they?

One word binds us all: geography. We are all geographers, human beings who care about the places we think of as 'home' - our habitat. And yet we have lost touch with the connection between our actions and the state of the planet that we all share. We need a new myth, a new narrative that restores the connections between humanity and the Earth. We are being confronted by a daily barrage of geographical stories on climate change, geopolitics, population growth, migration, dwindling resources, polluted oceans and natural hazards. These are planetary concerns affecting all people and all places.