"Urban Living at the Beginning of the 21st Century in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Vienna" is based on the EU-subsidised research project "Insecurities in European Cities" (InSec) and on the data collected in the framework of this study. While the InSec project combined Amsterdam, Budapest, Hamburg, Krakow and Vienna in the one research, the present study centres on Amsterdam with its areas De Baarsjes and De Bijlmer, while using Hamburg with the area Wilhelmsburg and Vienna with the district Leopoldstadt for comparison. The book is the result of observations dating from the time of the InSec research and of various developments that have taken place during the following about 15 years. Overviewing the mass of details introduced and referred to, one recognizes an apparent arrangement of important subjects, the following themes respectively: the influence of the time factor, the significance of diversity, the extent and importance of interaction and of the need of more interdisciplinarity. Over de auteur(s): Irene Sagel-Grande studied German Law, Jurisprudence and Criminology at Hamburg University and took her PhD at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany. From 1973 to 1976 she was attached to Amsterdam University as co-editor of "Justiz und NS-Verbrechen", a publication of German penal judgements between 1945 and 1966 with regard to National Socialist culpable homicide. In 1978 she started to study Dutch Law and Criminology at Free University Amsterdam, from where she graduated in 1981. After many years as Associate Professor in the Department for Penal Law and Criminology, as well as in the Department for Legal History, Private International and Comparative Private Law at Leiden University, she was appointed to Groningen University in 2000 to join the staff of the newly-founded Hanse Law School. Since 2007 she has been working primarily on empirical research projects in the field of European Sanction Systems, Prison Rules, Comparative Penal Law, Insecurities and Quality of Life in European Cities and in the field between jurisprudence and medicine, mainly on drugs policies and euthanasia. The Late Leo Toornvliet was Assistant Professor at the Criminological Institute of Leiden University. He studied experimental psychology and the technology of scientific research. From the beginning, the main point of his research was the aetiology of juvenile criminality, particularly in connection with personality. He participated in several Dutch crime prevention projects measuring objective insecurity (the level of criminality) as well as subjective insecurity (fear of crime). Further, he worked as methodologist in a number of research projects. Ian Lording from Melbourne/Australia has BSc and MA in Applied Linguistics and was kind to offer his help with improving the language, English not being the mother tongue of the author, but chosen to make the book accessible to a broader public.