Security In Public Spaces Research Articles

Bogotá: ¿más crimen?, ¿más miedo?

La relación entre la percepción de seguridad y el crimen no siempre está atada a la victimización ni al riesgo real de ser objeto de un acto delictivo, sino también al miedo de ser víctima de un delito. A partir de una encuesta orientada a la población de la Universidad de los Andes, se encuentra que el miedo pesa más que la victimización en la percepción de seguridad de la administración Garzón en comparación con las tres administraciones precedentes (Mockus-Peñalosa-Mockus). Por otro lado, aunque en Bogotá los índices de criminalidad para la mayoría de los delitos de mayor impacto ciudadano han disminuido, según estadísticas oficiales, la encuesta muestra que todavía una tercera parte de los entrevistados se sienten más inseguros en la actual administración que en las tres anteriores. En este estudio pionero para Colombia se demuestra que la percepción de seguridad de los uniandinos, en el espacio público y en el transporte público, está más determinada por factores relacionados con el miedo al crimen que por causas atribuibles a la victimización subjetiva (propia o del círculo social cercano). Además, estadísticamente se corroboran creencias arraigadas en el tema del miedo, como la actitud de la población joven frente al riesgo de ser sujetos de un delito y la mayor seguridad frente al crimen que sienten los hombres respecto de las mujeres.

Formal and ethical aspects of security in public spaces

According to John Habraken, there is today a tension between the planners' tendency to expand public space and the citizens' wish to extend their private control over that same space. Processes of appropriation and exclusion governing the public space geared by policies intended to increase security must therefore be concurrently informed to address the complexities of social reality. As far as architectural solutions and urban forms are concerned, the pattern of building placement, together with the size of the development and the grain of zoning of the area where it stands, are all major factors on the production of a spatially fit and a socially just hierarchy of territories.

Redefining security in public space: the case of LOVE park

By controlling the public spaces in which true human interaction occurs, planners and policymakers are challenging the fundamental desires of groups to forge social bonds and enhance their own sense familiarity with the environment. Security is not merely achieved through an understanding of territory but through acknowledgement and confrontation with individuals or groups maintaining diverse perspectives on the world.

People Watching People Watchers: 'The Law Enforcement Company' for watching over those who come to see and be seen on the 'Urban Beach'

This article presents my own personal narrative, in the existemology of a new but mostly deserted 'urban beach' right at downtown Toronto's epicenter. The new public space called 'Dundas Square', designed as 'Times Square North', forms Toronto's new civic center, around an urban beach theme with waterplay fountains, that rise and fall continuously, to create a beautiful and restful atmosphere of pounding surf. The space is policed by Intelligarde-International, which describes itself as 'The Law Enforcement Company'. The use of private security guards in an allegedly public space creates some unique problems in accountability and reciprocity in visibility. Unlike the lifeguards of a traditional beach, who are themselves young, playful, and part of the swimming community, Intelligarde alienates itself from the community through an authoritarian desire to be free of accountability. Citizens who go to the urbeach to see and be seen, can be thought of as 'people watching people'. But unlike lifeguards at a traditional beach, who often help novice swimmers be comfortable in the water, Intelligardes are 'people watching people watchers' from a distance. The problem of private security in public space is twofold: (1) a private 'law enforcement company' is not subject to the same checks and balances as public lifeguards; (2) the double entendre of the words 'private security' is fulfilled. Not only is law enforcement of life in the public square privatized, but also the security guards enjoy a privacy (i.e. lack of accountability) that their 'citizens' (the surveilled) do not. This article describes my attempts at using "Times Square North" for its intended purpose, and the resulting problems that point to a need for participatory equiveillance.