The Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment invited students to write theses on urban safety and security.  The winning entries are given below:

REPORT OF THE JURY ON THE PAPERS SUBMITTED FOR THE THESIS CONTEST OF WORLD HABITAT DAY 2007

As part of the commemoration of World Habitat Day, students were invited to take part in a competition. Seven students submitted papers on issues relating to urban development and the World Habitat Theme of A safe City is a Just City which were assessed by a jury.

The jury consisted of three persons:

1. Jan Pronk (former Netherlands Minister for Development Co-operation, former Netherlands Minister for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, former Representative Secretary General of the United Nations in Sudan; Affiliated Professor of Theory and Practice of International Development at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, and chairperson of World Habitat Day 2007; chairperson of the jury);
   
2. Joep Ebus (junior policy adviser, Department of International Affairs of the City of The Hague).
   
3. Huib van Eyk (international policy adviser of the Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment and former President of the Committee on Housing and Land Management of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe).

The jury is grateful to all seven persons who presented papers for this contest. Their
names, in random order, and the titles of their respective papers are as follows:

1. Emmanuel P. Ooko Midheme, from the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, The Netherlands.
   Title of submitted paper: State vs. Community-led Land Tenure Regularization in Tanzania – the case of Dar es Salam City.
   
2. Amin Budiarjo, from the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, (The Netherlands).
   Title of submitted paper: Evacuation Shelter Building Planning for Tsunami-prone Area; a Case Study of Meulaboh City, Indonesia.
   
3. Jasmine Osorio van Wijgerden, from Wageningen University (the Netherlands). Title of submitted paper: Citizen Involvement in Urban Development Advances in Participation? – A Comparison of Development Plans in the Netherlands and the United States.
   
4. Anna Bos, from the University of Utrecht, (the Netherlands).
   Title of submitted paper: Survival Sex: the Last Option or a Lifestyle?
   
5. Michiel van Heusden, from the University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands)
   Title of submitted paper: Ambujwadi: a Slum Reconstruction – Changing Housing Strategies in the Face of Demolitions.
   
6. Ssentongo Crissy, from Kampala, (Uganda).
   Title of submitted paper: Being Safer Can Not Make a City Only”, and
   
7. Francesco Marelli, from the European University Center for Peace Studies (EPU), Stadtschlaining, (Austria).
   Title of submitted paper: Proposal for an EU Organ for Peace and Non-Violence.
   All seven submissions were regarded by the jury as being relevant to the general theme of World Habitat Day.

Winners
On Monday, October 1, 2007 the chairperson Jan Pronk, awarded the following prizes on behalf of the entire jury:

The first prize (€250,-) was awarded to Mr Emmanuel Ooko Midheme for his paper on State vs. Community-led Land Tenure Regularization in Tanzania – the case of Dar es Salam City.

The jury has allotted this first prize because it is of the opinion that it clearly describes different approaches in land regularization. It points out some intrinsic weaknesses in the original set-up of new state-led regularization measures in Tanzania, and makes a clear plea for community-led regularization. Though this is presented as having clear advantages, it nevertheless also requires outside facilitating government expertise. It is well written, and sometimes even eloquently so.

The second prize (€150,-) was awarded to Mr Amin Budiarjo for his paper on Evacuation Shelter Building Planning for Tsunami-prone Area; a Case Study of Meulaboh City, Indonesia.

According to the judgement of the jury, this paper is based on a scientific, good analysis and recommends various aspects for the set-up of Evacuation Shelter Buildings – robust multi-storey buildings to which tsunami-threatened people can flee and find safety. A very interesting paper.

The third price (€75,-) was awarded to Ms Anna Bos, for her paper on Survival Sex: the Last Option or a Lifestyle.

The jury is of the opinion, that the theme of her paper - sad and shocking as it is – is very fascinating. It is written in a methodologically sound way and incorporates a wide description – made close to the people concerned - and an analysis of the HIV/AIDS-epidemic in Kenya, and the lives of female slum dwellers in Kiambiu (Nairobi).