Open-access Socio-spatial violence prevention: Inhibiting violence in Caracas, Venezuela through spatial planning

Prevenção socioespacial da violência: Inibindo a violência em Caracas através do planejamento espacial

Abstracts

Contemporary urban growth in many cities in Latin American and Africa has been accompanied by unprecedented levels of urban violence. Latin America epitomizes this trend as three of the world's most dangerous cities, Ciudad Juárez, San Pedro Sula, and Caracas, are located within this region (JÁCOME; GRATIUS, 2011, p. 2). Of these three, Caracas is notable because its exorbitant homicide rate cannot be explicitly attributed to the illicit drug trade-cartel wars that consume Mexico, nor is it represented by the civil conflict-gang violence that afflicts Central America. Moreover, the Venezuelan context is further distinguished as inequality, which is consistently cited as the primary catalyst for the emergence of everyday reactionary violence, is not overtly characteristic of the contemporary situation. Rather, caraqueño insecurity has largely been attributed to the exacerbation of social factors that perpetuate violence as "[...] an end in itself or a [mechanism] to injure/eliminate another person in order to resolve an interpersonal conflict [...]" (SANJUÁN, 2002, p. 95). Based on this reality, this work proposes the inclusion of socio-spatial interventions into contemporary prevention initiatives. Spatial interventions have shown a "[...] significant capacity to prevent the occurrence of violence in areas that are either totally or partially excluded from economic development and larger society [...]" (DÍAZ; MELLER, 2012, p. 23). Implications of this work have the capacity to augment predominantly technical violence prevention precedent and enhance knowledge on alternative mechanisms to prevent insecurity. This study employs a comprehensive literature review in conjunction with data analyses in the development of a spatial proposal for Caracas.

Urban violence prevention; Socio-spatial intervention; Latin American urban development


O crescimento urbano contemporâneo em muitas cidades da América Latina e da África tem sido acompanhado por níveis sem precedentes de violência urbana. No entanto, a América Latina resume mais essa tendência: três das cidades mais perigosas do mundo são localizadas na região: Ciudad Juárez, San Pedro Sula e Caracas (JÁCOME; GRATIUS, 2011, p. 2). Dessas três, Caracas é particular. Sua taxa exorbitante de homicídios não pode ser atribuída às guerras dos cartéis de drogas ilícitas que consomem o México, nem é representativa da violência de gangues que aflige a América Central. Além disso, o contexto venezuelano é distinto, porque a desigualdade, constantemente citada como o principal catalisador para o surgimento de violência reacionária não é característica em aprofundamento da situação contemporânea. A insegurança caraquenha, pelo contrário, tem sido amplamente atribuída à exacerbação de determinados fatores sociais, perpetuando a violência como "[...] um fim em si mesmo ou um [mecanismo] para ferir/eliminar outra pessoa, a fim de resolver um conflito interpessoal [...]" (SANJUÁN, 2002, p. 95). Por conta dessa realidade, este trabalho propõe a inclusão de intervenções socioespaciais em iniciativas de prevenção contemporâneos. Intervenções espaciais têm mostrado uma "[...] significativa capacidade de prevenir a ocorrência de violência nas áreas que são total ou parcialmente excluídas do desenvolvimento econômico e da sociedade em geral [...]" (DÍAZ; MELLER, 2012, p. 23). Implicações deste trabalho podem levar ao desenvolvimento de precedente de prevenção da violência predominantemente técnico e assim melhorar o conhecimento sobre os mecanismos alternativos para evitar a insegurança. Este estudo emprega uma ampla revisão da literatura em conjunto com análises de dados para o desenvolvimento de uma proposta espacial para Caracas.

Prevenção da violência urbana; Intervenção socioespacial; Desenvolvimento urbano da América Latina


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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    04 June 2014
  • Date of issue
    Aug 2014

History

  • Received
    03 Jan 2014
  • Accepted
    27 Mar 2014
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