Violence and City

would there be a geography of crime?

Abstract

This work discusses the relationship between violence and urban space working from theoretical considerations and from elements derived from studies carried out by the authors as part of the multidisciplinary research project “Urban space criminality: the transversalities of violence”, that has been developed at UNISINOS. The text questions elements of the Chicago Ecological School, which are reexamined on the basis of contemporary determinations. Five vectors are presented, in which appears, delineated, the relationship between the city and violence: population density, urbanization, poverty, inequality and social capital. From this basis, some methodological devices are suggested which can be used in investigations in this theme.