Violence produces urban planning principles: bunkerization and foreignness

Abstract

Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean has intensified and diversified to the point where the region is now considered the most violent on a global scale. Despite fluctuations in homicide rates since the beginning of the century, they have consistently remained at an alarming average of 20 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, resulting in socio-economic, political, and urban impacts that deeply affect cities in the region. Currently, cities are (re)producers of violence to the extent that they create urban imaginaries of fear and insecurity, which are upheld as urban planning principles. This sequence is expressed through at least two specific types of non-criminal violence: bunkerization and foreignness. While the former is associated with processes of self-segregation and residential fortification, the latter is linked to the construction of an "other" foreign identity within one's own city. To decipher and govern the region's cities, it is essential to understand the plurality of these violences. This requires addressing them from plural, structural, and historical perspectives, focusing not only on security policies but also on urban, social, and cultural policies.