Chapter 2 - Global cities, segregation and transgression BLOCK 1, BOOK 1 Flashcards
URBAN AND SPATIAL SEGREGATION
PACIFICATION POLICY
RIO (BRAZIL)
Pacification policy programme was designed by the RIO STATE GOVERNMENT in Brazil to bring normality to the ‘favellas’ (slums) by putting in permanent police stations before 2014 world cup and 2016 Olympics.
It was designed to pacify the favellas but just caused disruption to a slum that had experienced relative peace in previous months. Indeed i think a person died.
HISTORICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CITY.
HOW THE CITY WAS VIEWED.
CHICAGO is example used.
Historical representations of the city - focus was on the urban/city as having a ‘causal role’ in crime and violence.
Chicago school sociologists argued that neglected areas of Chicago allowed for crime and vice to become the dominant form of living in the city.
These areas became known as ‘ZONES OF TRANSITION’ (Burgess, 1967) - neglected areas of crime and violence.
ON ONE HAND - city is viewed as social/moral problem, a place of transgression,
ON THE OTHER HAND - city is viewed as a place of accomplishment/civility
CONTEMPORARY REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CITY.
HOW THE CITY IS VIEWED NOWADAYS.
Cities in 21st century offer up diff reps and problems
Cities are becoming ‘dominant form of living’ globally
NOWADAYS - cities imagined as ‘fragmented places’ whereby on one hand there are poor marginalised inner city areas/council estates of crime and disorder
and on the other hand - the AFFLUENT attempt to build a sense of security in urban villages such as primrose hill (Mooney, 2009)
SEGREGATION DEFINITION
The ways by which people/places are separated from one another according to system of classification or differentiation
RACIAL SEGREGATION - Jim Crow laws
HISTORICALLY.
In 19th Century, Jim Crow laws segregated blacks from whites in transport, schools, housing, jobs, public spaces, public transport. This was an example of racial, economic, social, and spatial segregation.
In South Africa - black and white people were segregated during apartheid
These systems of segregation no longer exist, but there are still racial tensions.
NEW ‘SPATIAL SEGREGATION’ IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES
Contemporary cities have created NEW SPATIAL SEGREGATION across access to wealth and cultural goods.
Also - discrimination marginalises particular social groups spatially, i.e ethnic minorities.
WHAT IS ‘MAPPING’ OF CRIME, FEAR AND INSECURITY?
Relationships between spatial segregation, crime, transgression, crime control are represented through processes of MAPPING.
NOWADAYS - MAPPING is a dominant TOOL in crime prevention and detection through Geographical Information System (GIS) computer packages.
MAPPING is a way of:
- understanding how social problems and social phenomena can be geographically distributed
- classifying and demarcating social and city life
- presenting idealised versions of actual space
- expressing constructions and representations of relationships between crime and place.
3 MODELS USED FOR MAPPING of crime through segregation.
- Model of concentric zones (Burgess, 1925)
- Ecology of fear model (Davis, 1998) - This was used on Los Angeles (LA).
- Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping of distribution and crime.
- MODEL OF CONCENTRIC ZONES (Burgess, 1925) for spatial segregation.
Burgess’s map was a construction depicting spatial segregation as evolving from ‘natural’ and ‘biological’ competition.
rather than social processes such as reversible policy decisions by businesses and the wealthy.
By this - showed how different nationalities and ethnicity were segregated in particular areas within city.
- ECOLOGY OF FEAR MODEL (Davis, 1998) - used on LA CITY.
and
involves ‘SECURITISATION’ MEASURES.
Davis sees social, economic, political, and psychological factors as significant for city segregation.
This is unlike Burgess’s model that sees segregation as a natural process.
Davis map represents how fear of crime and racial difference shapes security and physical layout of the city, as affluent whites seek to protect and segregate themselves from crimes of the poor.
This map reveals a dangerous inner city and an affluent outer suburb protected by ‘securitisation’ methods/measures.
Therefore - methods of ‘SECURITISATION’ are used such as gated communities, CCTV, barriers, neighbourhood watch, driving SUV’s etc
- GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS) mapping of distribution and crime.
This is an Anti-crime measure according to spatial distribution of crime.
It is used to identify ‘hotspots’ for particular types of crime. Map shows criminal activity in problem places by problem people.
It is influenced by situational crime prevention (SCP) and Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED).
By this - policy and crime control initiatives secure such spaces through architectural design of housing and public spaces, i.e CCTV and ‘SECURED BY DESIGN PROJECTS’ run by police.
‘SECURED BY DESIGN’ - changes physical space, increases natural surveillance ( visibility of spaces to people), puts spiky plants around buildings, and installs security gates and locks etc.
Boundaries, differences, and spatial segregation in an urban context.
Historical ideas of spatial segregation
and
Contemporary ideas of spatial segregation
HISTORICALLY - Society was broken down based on biological/physical characteristics, i.e the born criminal (Lombrosso, 1876). For instance, someone with particular physical characteristics would be considered to be criminal.
or - society was broken down based on class, ethnicity, ethnicity, age, gender etc. This was rigid.
NOWADAYS - Boundaries between gender, classes, and ethnic communities etc are blurred and porous, and are exemplified by moral panics in the news.
Modern example of moral panic around segregation involves shift from home to inclusion in the work place and society. By this, there is a moral panic around their infertility, binge-drinking, neglect of kids, late motherhood etc.
Contemporary ideas of spatial segregation for ‘CRIME CONTROL’.
I.E) - Methods used to segregate criminals from the rest of the population.
Crime control through spatial segregation techniques include:
- committal to a psychiatric hospital
- prison
- transportation
- electronic tagging
- ASBO’s
- genocide (pop excluded through mass murder).
By this - separating good (normal) from bad (abnormal) is embedded in western society (SIBLEY). This is SPATIAL EXCLUSION. By this boundaries are created.
PERCEIVED CRIMINAL TYPE IS……………..
Perceived criminal is:
- young
- male
- from deprived inner city
- and is of a minority ethnic group
SEGREGATION BY DISCOURSE
From a social perspective -Sub-cultural groups such as mods/rockers were depicted in discourse as responsible for the ‘moral decline in society’.
As a result - Moral Panics (Cohen, 1973) are caused by the media through amplification, i.e about mods, rockers
(folk devils), young people, the shift in women going to work etc
VINDICTIVENESS - This leads to increased enforcement, public campaigns against YP, and new laws.
By this boundaries are created - this suggests that ‘otherness’ is a problem for society