Urban Dispositions of Violences. A Brief Panorama at Socio-Spatial Logics of Violence at Latin American City

Abstract

Nowadays, when all the forms of violence have become something normal and they are part of our everyday life, mainly for the so-called developing countries, it is essential to inquire about everyday beliefs and practices, which enable coercive links or their invisibility. Dispositions are intellectual mechanisms that define trends of action for individuals in a given context and situation; they are based mainly on beliefs and the characteristics of the socio-spatial context. This analysis discusses the question: what are dispositions that legitimize and promote the segregated city? Our thinking is based on a review of several studies, and empirical research on the peripheral and central public spaces in large cities, especially some recent research on violence in the outskirts of Mexico City. In other words, we intend to examine it from the point of view of the groups that suffer most from the violence. But mainly it is about proposing an examination of our preferences and desires to inhabit cities in search of the mechanisms that protect us from discomfort, but which, at the same time, tend to harbour the seeds of human violence.