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Synopsis
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.
Editor Bios
Rachel Locke is co-founder and Acting Executive Director of Peace in Our Cities, a network of cities around the world working to prevent and reduce serious violence through evidence-informed and rights-based strategies. She previously directed the Violence, Inequality and Power Lab (VIP Lab) at the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, University of San Diego. She has also been Head of Research for violence prevention at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation and Senior Policy Adviser with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), where she developed agency-wide policies on issues concerning conflict, violence, and fragility. She holds an MA in international affairs from Columbia University and has published widely on violence prevention, humanitarian aid, conflict, and transnational organized crime.
Kelsey Paul Shantz is Program Officer for mass violence and atrocities at the Stanley Center for Peace and Security and a co-facilitating partner of the Peace in Our Cities Network. At the Stanley Center, she works to prevent identity-based violence by developing evidence and global networks of policymakers, researchers, and practitioners. She primarily focuses on city-level approaches to address structural violence, including investigating how identity is weaponized through power and systems. Her work—both personal and professional—has informed city-level strategies for violence reduction and community resilience. Her prior research has spanned topics of defense and security, global economic governance, and microfinance for think tanks and research institutions in Canada, the United States, and the Netherlands. Paul Shantz has an MA in international relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and an MPP from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany. She also has a BA in international studies from the University of Evansville.
Andrei Serbin Pont is the President of the Coordinadora Regional de Investigaciones EconĂłmicas y Sociales (Regional Coordinator for Social and Economic Research) known as CRIES. He is also CEO of InnovAcciĂłn Hub by Pensamiento Propio, Regional Representative for the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), Adjunct Director of Pensamiento Propio, a Consulting Member of the Argentine Council for International Relations, and Senior Fellow at the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy. He holds a PhD in international relations from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, a master’s degree in international relations from the San Tiago Dantas Program in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a BA in liberal arts with a specialization in public policy from Universidad Nacional de San MartĂn—Buenos Aires.
Jai-Ayla Sutherland is Program Officer for mass violence and atrocities at the Stanley Center for Peace and Security, where she supports efforts to prevent structural and acute violence by working with representatives from government and civil society. Her work focuses predominantly on the role of cities, locally and internationally, in implementing evidence-based prevention strategies. Her team is part of the secretariat of the Peace in Our Cities Network, a global network of cities and organizations working together to reduce violence at the municipal level. She has worked in North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and has experience conducting research on the roots of violent conflict in Africa and the Middle East and analyzing the structural needs and policy approaches to preventing mass atrocities worldwide. She has an MA in international security from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver and a BA in international relations from the University of Southern California.
