IP5 – JACS ACCUrban Syndrome Context

Violence, insecurity and transformation of urban space

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Key issue adressed

• The phenomenon of social violence and insecurity, which

contributes to exacerbate conflicts over urban space, and

that governments no longer control. Research examines

social practices developed in response, their social and

spatial effects, and the proposals of both authorities and

population to create “safer cities”.

Main Research Questions

What are the links between:

• Violence and insecurity, actors’ social practices and socio-

spatial fragmentation taking place on a local level; and

• The “globalisation” of security strategies (Zero Tolerance/

Urbanism of fear)?

PhD thesis

• Gated communities, segregation and violence in San Salvador.Sonia Baires/UCA-El Salvador.

• Urban security/insecurity and the appropriation of public space in Caracas.Julio de Freitas/Central University of Venezuela.

Research project / Sub Syndrome Context: Metropolitan areas

Violence, insecurity and transformation of urban space in

the context of globalisation. Comparative case studies: San

Salvador, El Salvador and Caracas, Venezuela.

Yves Pedrazzini, International coordinator.

•Art Shield: Mitigating Gang

Violence with Youth Culture in

a Transnational Framework.

San Salvador.

•Urban Youth Festival in

Mexico City

2005:

•Programa sobre manejo

de desechos sólidos

ejecutado por jovenes

desocupados de la

comunidad de Anauco,

Caracas

Expected Outputs (2001-2005)• PublicationsBooks• 1 book on Urban violence published.• 1 book on Public space as Editor to be published.

Articles in journals with peer reviews• 3 articles to be published.

Articles in journals without peer reviews • 3 articles to be published

Anthologies (books)• 1 article in print.

Reports and other• Report on “Cultural practices of youth in violent contexts”

research.

Submitted publications• 2 articles have been submitted.

Expected Outputs (2001-2005)

Congresses and workshops

• Participation in 5 international conferences

• 4 public presentations and 4 workshops on research results in S.S. and Caracas

• 15 public lectures at UCA, UCV and Swiss Universities.

Postgraduate studies and research

2 PhDs completed

Main Core Problems identified

• Increasing violence and insecurity

• Inadequate legal framework and regulations and poor urban management.

• Unequal distribution of services and infrastructure.

• Governance failures, weak local governments within restricted decentralisation.

The research project:

Violence, insecurity and transformation of urban space in the context of globalisation. Comparative case studies: San Salvador, El Salvador and Caracas, Venezuela.

Objectives• To study urban violence and insecurity in the context of

globalisation and urbanisation.• To analyse the impacts of urban violence, insecurity and security

policies in the processes of urban space transformations.• To analyse social practices of public and private actors to face

violence and insecurity but also ways to mitigate problems through empowerment.

The Research project

Research questions:• What are the social practices of public and private actors

developed to confront violence and insecurity?

• What are the social representations of violence and insecurity inducing the privatisation of public space at different levels?

• What transformations of space have private and public strategies against violence led to?

• What are the social processes that have made gated communities possible?

Hypothesis:The social fabric of urban territories results from dynamic links between violence, social practices, spatial fragmentation and globalisation of security policies.

Social practices, Urbanization and

Globalization• In a global context of increasing violence and insecurity,

changes in social practices of public space use and appropriation are the result of interrelations between globalisation and urbanisation at the local level.

• Latin America’s Metropolitan Area uncontrolled urban growth produces unsustainable patterns of land occupation and depletion of natural resources. Globalization is transforming metropolitan areas through the development of big commercial and infrastructure projects that are changing the structure of cities.

• One of the problems associated to globalization is the polarization and increase of urban segregation and conflicts for territorial control.

Key messages at IP5 level:

• How can the inter-relations between globalization, urbanization and the transformation of space be understood as a violent process?

• In insecure and violent situations, what social practices do civilian populations implement to ensure their local integration and/or respond to changes in the social environment (bottom-up dynamics)? Can these responses produce new insecurity and violences? Can they also be acts of resistance, creativity, social change? Could these actions be supported by external social actors (through practices of empowerment of populations, PAMS, etc.)?

Key messages at IP5 level:

• What policies do public authorities use towards the builders of the “informal sectors of the city” when confronted with their expectations (top-down dynamics), sometimes in an illegal or violent way?

• Which relations can be identified between bottom-up and top-down dynamics? How can we overcome possible contradictions between an ascending social logic and a vertical political-institutional and economic logic to create innovative ways of local governance (social and institutional innovations)?

Key messages at IP5 level from PhD

results:Studies of Metropolitan areas have shown:

• Latin America’s metropolitan areas show patterns of urban growth that are increasingly segregative.

• Trends of “privatizing” public space and social life, in urban and suburban areas, is creating “auto segregation” and more social/spatial fragmentation.

• Social practices of “enclosure” are changing the social fabric of cities, as social relations are mediated by fear and violence (real and imagined). Fear builds inner boundaries for territorial control.

• Inadequate State and private responses to violence and insecurity (Zero Tolerance) could lead to crises and conflicts, hence to unsustainable development.

•Next Step: Some questions to be discussed

•Does Globalization definitively fragment the social links?

•Would Urban Violence be the next global value?

•Is the Urbanism of Fear an hegemonic model for the City of 21st Century management?

•Are we living now in Societies of Control?

•How can we begin to build non-violent livelihood alternatives?