Abstract
The concentration of urban violence in certain settlements in Latin America and the possibility of expansion have been latent concerns in slum upgrading. This intervention is potentially an urban peace strategy, especially when it is open to local participation and the promotion of capacities for collective action. However, the political economy behind upgrading shows that these are settings of competence for power and resources. Different factors (e.g., heterogeneity and population size, and project design) account for the bias towards a local elite, which is functional to the interests of public authorities. But, in contexts where power is fluid and challengeable, the informal arrangements between actors involved are more important as mediating social mechanisms of the peacebuilding efforts in the upgrading intervention and their outcomes. This article focuses on the Vila Viva slum-upgrading experience in Aglomerado da Serra, starting in 2005 in Belo Horizonte (Brazil). Social Network Analysis (SNA) models were applied to study the ties linking activists with public and private community initiatives. Interviews and a sociometric survey were used to collect information. The analysed social mechanisms (closure and brokerage types) depicted interaction frameworks with public authorities of two profiles of community activists: traditional and emerging. The first one was functional to the situational crime control approach of Vila Viva, in contrast with territorial rooting defended by emerging activists. The Vila Viva program upgraded the area’s connectivity with the city and broadened the market share of the favela´s drug dealers. After which, they assumed situational control to protect external buyers.
Highlights
In Latin America, a region with the world’s highest murder rates, violence tends to be located mainly in cities (UNODC 2019)
In previous statistical exercises3 of crossings between categories of information on the attributes of the activists, it was possible to verify two profiles, according to their origin. Those who migrated to the Aglomerado and had lived there most of their lives, and those who were born and raised in this settlement. The former made up the group of the most traditional in the settlement and were associated with the age range of older people, with basic and medium levels of education and declared activities, such as ‘community leader’,4 ‘political office assistant’ and ‘retired’
The Aglomerado natives, and emerging figures in their condition of activism, were linked to age categories ranging from teenagers to adults and with activities that required higher job qualification: young people as ‘cultural producer’, ‘artist’ or ‘businessman’ tasks; young adults as ‘public official’; and adults as ‘educator’ or ‘community health agent’ (ACS)
Summary
In Latin America, a region with the world’s highest murder rates, violence tends to be located mainly in cities (UNODC 2019). In accordance with the community-based development approach, this would ensure the people most in need are effectively benefited and promotes local capacity for coordination and collective action to face challenges in order to develop safety and urban peace In this way, the intervention will be an opportunity to offer public support to develop a public-parish control of criminal behaviour (Carr 2003) when the inhabitants lack sufficient resources. The intervention took place at a time of demographic transition and pressure for a generational renewal of community representation in the Aglomerado da Serra, the largest favela in Belo Horizonte—the capital of the state of Minas Gerais This set a scenario of defiance towards the structure of local power that ended up conditioning the effects of the program in terms of the control and prevention of violence.
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