Identity-Based Mass Violence in Urban Contexts

This open access book represents a multiyear exploration into identity-based mass violence (IBMV) within urban contexts. It explores the complexities of structural and acute violence in cities, drawing on local solutions rooted in the fields of urban violence prevention, atrocity prevention, and peacebuilding. The authors present a multidimensional approach that addresses sexual and gender-based violence, racial and ethnic violence, gang or group-based violence, state-perpetrated violence, political violence, violence against migrants, and others. The volume investigates the outsized influence of power in shaping how violence is understood and how prevention outcomes are evaluated. The chapters span scholarship, practical guidance, and lived experience of enduring and bearing witness to IBMV. This volume speaks directly to reform-minded partners and allies in policy and practice, as well as to funders and supporters. It provides a practical foundation for collaborative, prevention-focused action and policy opportunities.

Rachel Locke is Director of the Violence, Inequality and Power Lab at the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, University of San Diego, USA. Locke co-founded Peace in Our Cities, a diverse global network driven by a shared vision of healthy, peaceful, and prosperous cities where serious violence is prevented through rights-based, evidence-informed policy and practice.

Kelsey Paul Shantz is Program Officer for mass violence and atrocities at the Stanley Center for Peace and Security, USA. Her prior research has spanned topics of global macro and microeconomics, peacebuilding, and defense and security.

Andrei Serbin Pont is President of CRIES (Coordinadora Regional de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales), and Regional Coordinator for Social and Economic Research. He is also CEO of InnovAcción Hub, Regional Representative for the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), and Adjunct Director of Pensamiento Propio.

Jai-Ayla Sutherland is Program Officer for mass violence and atrocities at the Stanley Center for Peace and Security, USA. In addition to her work focused on the prevention of mass violence across the globe, she has served as city councilor in Casper, Wyoming, USA.