Martina Schneider
MA
Head of Surplus , City of Zurich , Surplus
Zurich, Switzerland
About
Martina Schneider has a BA in political science public law and Chinese from the University of Zurich and a MA in Humanitarianism and Conflict Response from the University of Manchester UK. After internships at the FDFA in Atlanta, Youth for Understanding in Canada, and the China Women's Development Foundation in Beijing, she joined the Swiss NATO company for the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo in 2019. At the end of 2019, Martina Schneider was hired by the City of Zurich's Social Welfare Department and in 2020 she took over the lead of the now fully implemented project "Surplus" from its founder. She recently quit her job as a member of staff, however, she remains the head of Surplus until the end of 2022.
Surplus - situational crime prevention by being part of the public space
Where there are many people in the "open-air club" on weekend nights, coexistence is endangered and the mood sometimes tilts. Zurich has had good experience with preventive presence (in the sense of situational crime prevention embedded in the Routine Activities Approach) in the evening and after-hours in public spaces for about three years. The coordinated and visible work of (youth) social work and prevention services signals: we are here, we provide support, we engage in conversation, we observe and are ready at an early stage to prevent conflicts from escalating. Thanks to the networking of preventive and repressive forces, resources are used well and a valuable situational analysis is created, which can be used for optimal planning and work tailored to each space by collecting various indicators. The results of these experiences within the framework of "Surplus" are presented and can be reflected in the discussion with other solutions.
