This study aims to understand how urbanresidents cope with violence, or the threat of it, in theireveryday lives, to inform the design of policies andprograms for violence prevention. The study is the firstglobal study on urban violence undertaken by the World Bankand covers three regions. It emerged from the growing demandwithin the Bank and client governments for a morecomprehensive understanding of the social dimensions ofurban violence. The study is not an exhaustive review of thetopic, but rather is an exploration of the social drivers ofviolence, and its impact on social relations. The reportconsists of six chapters. In chapter one, the topic of urbanviolence is introduced as a pressing development issue.Chapter two discusses the complex relationship betweencities and violence. In chapter three, the report reviewsthe literature to develop an analytical framework forunderstanding community capacities for violence prevention.Chapter four reviews interventions to prevent violence interms of their impact on these key community capacities. Theempirical findings from the five case studies are presentedin chapter five, followed by strategic policy orientationsin chapter six.