Violence/ Crime
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Urban News Roundup: March 20, 2015
Cairo to be replaced by new planned capital city Over the weekend, Egypt unveiled plans to build a wholly new capital somewhere to Cairo’s east, closer to the Red Sea. It would sprawl across some 150 square miles and potentially be home to as many as 7 million people, with the aim of boosting the … Continued
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The barricaded shops of Delft South
Shop-keepers in Delft South, an area with one of the highest crime rates in South Africa, are fortifying their stores with cages to protect themselves from criminals.
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Media as empowerment for youth in Mitchells Plain
Media programme give young people tools to share their stories and experiences of violence in the Cape Flats.
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Enhancing safety through upgrading: Experiences from Cape Town
Mercy Brown-Luthango from the African Centre for Cities shares preliminary findings from a research project that looks at the effectiveness of different urban upgrading approaches in Cape Town’s informal settlements with regards to safety.
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Have you heard of Mnyama Ndawo?
Mnyama Ndawo is an abandoned building somewhere in Berea – not that any child has ever seen it for themselves. If a thief runs past you down Commissioner Street with his arms full of stolen goods you know where he’s going! – Mnyama Ndawo. The basement of Mnyama Ndawo breathes out unmarked cars with tinted … Continued
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Gangs target children in Cape Town
The proliferation of gang violence in working class suburbs of Cape Town requires collaborative intervention – and fast.
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Nairobbery: life in the fenced city
Last September the world was shocked by terrorist group al-Shabaab’s killing of 67 people in Nairobi’s Westgate mall. But long before al-Shabaab’s brazen mall attack, in retaliation for Kenyan military intervention in Somalia, Nairobi already had a reputation for being one of the most dangerous cities in Africa. So much so that it has earned … Continued
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Research associate: Sustainable energy access in mozambique
Research associate position available at University College London to work on the project “Sustainable Energy Access in Mozambique: Socio-political factors in conflict-laden urban areas”.
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Call for papers: International Conference on Urban Planning, Governance and Design for Reducing Urban Conflicts and Violence
There is a need to re-focus on the potential and possibilities of urban planning, design and governance to create inclusive, just and sustainable cities.
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Call for Papers: Annual Congress of the South African Sociological Association
SASA’s next annual congress will take place at the University of Johannesburg in Johannesburg from 28 June to 1 July 2015. While papers that relate to the overall conference theme of Contours of Violence are particularly welcome, a broad range of urban studies papers are invited and the conversation will not be limited to a focus on violence.
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Collective (in) efficacy, substance abuse and violence in ‘‘Freedom Park,’’ Cape Town
Using collective efficacy as a lens, the paper tries to understand high levels of violence and crime within a recently upgraded urban settlement in Cape Town.
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The Effect of Fear of Crime and Crime Victimization on Subjective Well-Being in Africa
This paper examines how fear of crime and crime victimization affect the well-being of people in Africa.
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Collective (in) efficacy, substance abuse and violence in ‘‘Freedom Park,’’ Cape Town
This paper tries to understand high levels of violence and crime within an upgraded urban settlement in Cape Town.
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“Xenophobia” in South Africa: Order, Chaos, and the Moral Economy of Witchcraft
Jason Hickel (2014). “Xenophobia” in South Africa: Order, Chaos, and the Moral Economy of Witchcraft. Cultural Anthropology, Volume 29, Issue 1, pages 103–127. Abstract This article explores the violent, anti-immigrant riots that swept through informal settlements in South Africa in 2008, during which more than sixty foreigners were killed and more than one hundred thousand … Continued
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The contours of disorder: crime maps and territorial policing in South Africa
Organised violence strongly shapes political boundaries. The modern state’s monopoly on legitimate violence has made national borders the primary dividing line between peaceful and violent places. However, governments that are unable to achieve such a monopoly may opt for the more modest goal of moderating the distribution of violent behaviour across their jurisdiction. This paper … Continued
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‘Men value their dignity’: securing respect and identity construction in urban informal settlements in South Africa
Background: Urban informal settlements remain sites of high HIV incidence and prevalence, as well as violence. Increasing attention is paid to how configurations of young men’s masculinities shape these practices through exploring how men build respect and identity. In this paper, we explore how young Black South Africans in two urban informal settlements construct respect … Continued
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Effective Crime Prevention in Durban, South Africa
South Africa has experienced soaring crime levels during the last years of apartheid, which continue unabated into the ten years of democracy. Durban, the largest city in the KwaZulu-Natal province, has increased by 15% between 2001/2002 and 2004/2005, with more than 190 000 cases of crime between 2004/2005. The city officials have therefore forged development negotiations, peace pacts and partnerships that have come about as mechanisms to prevent crime in Durban. This has been facilitated…
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Building Urban Safety through Slum Upgrading
Excluded from the city’s opportunities, physically, politically and economically marginalized, slum dwellers are particularly vulnerable to crime and violence. They face an acute risk of becoming victims or offenders and live in a state of constant insecurity. Only a few cities have incorporated a coherent component to prevent crime and mitigate violence in their urban development agendas. Impact on urban safety has occurred somewhat unexpectedly. That is the main lesson to be drawn from the pages of this book: urban policy integration. “Among the several forms of…
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Urban Fortresses: Gated communities as a reaction to crime
One of the consequences of the state’s inability to protect the life and property of all its citizens—especially in developing countries—is the formation of private alternatives to crime prevention and control. Gated communities, or enclosed neighbourhoods, are one such popular alternative. This article compares the phenomenon of gated communities in two developing countries: South Africa and Brazil. Both countries are plagued by violent crime and share…
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Security in Niamey: an anthropological perspective on policing and an act of terrorism in Niger*
The abduction of two Frenchmen in January 2011 in Niamey’s supposedly most secure neighbourhood has led many to question the functioning of the city’s security apparatus. This paper analyses Niamey’s security landscape, initially from an historical and then from a spatial perspective. It argues that for a comprehensive analysis of security, we must first decentre our perspective on security construction, and thus take informal non-organised modes of policing just as seriously as policing by state and vigilante organisations; and second, take into…