Built Environment and Crime Concentration in State Production Spaces: San Pedro de la Paz, "Bio-Bio" Region, Chile

Abstract

It is argued that, in state-produced peri-urban neighbourhoods, the spatial properties of the built environment and the physical form of the built environment are not sufficient to understand the complexity of crime concentration and the formation of safe neighbourhoods. When it comes to state-produced neighbourhoods located in areas devoid of services and facilities, the scale of analysis of space and the formation of centrality becomes vitally important. In terms of safety, research on the layout of urban fabric and public spaces in residential areas is sporadic and inconclusive (Hillier & Sahbaz, 2008). In this same field, the idea of defensive appropriation of space has been prioritised over the need to build safe neighbourhoods (Greene & Mora, 2018), giving less attention to the role of public and private space in terms of safety and crime occurrence. Given this need, this research aims to identify and understand the spatial properties of the built environment that intervene in the formation of safe neighbourhoods, problematising the occurrence of crime in public and private space, thus shedding light on the potential of the built environment to favour -or not- the formation of safe neighbourhoods. The research addresses two neighbourhoods located in the peri-urban area of the commune of San Pedro de la Paz, Bío-Bío region, Chile: Boca Sur Nuevo and San Pedro de la Costa, contiguous sectors but originated by the State in different historical periods.
The study uses a quantitative methodology, on the one hand, for spatial analysis, the Spatial Syntax approach developed by Hillier and Hanson (1984) is implemented. The spatial syntax is based on the graph theory of discrete mathematics for the calculation of the configurative spatial relationships between the streets of the city (Yamu, 2021). This approach is complemented by the methodology of Solá Morales (1997) based on the precepts of urbanisation, subdivision and building. Thus, space is observed as an intrinsic aspect of the activities that people carry out, referring not only to the qualities of individual spaces, but also to the interrelationships between the spaces that make up the spatial layout and the way people use and move around cities. On the other hand, a quantitative socio-spatial analysis of the concentration of crime in space is carried out, the data are extracted from the Crime Statistical System (SIED) in its version of territorial data for the year 2019. The analysis considered crimes of major social connotation (DMCS), referring to those “crimes of a violent nature that affect the property, life and property of people, thereby generating a public impact” (AMUCH, 2018). The crime data were complemented with spatial variables of the case study. The results show that the Spatial Syntax approach, together with Solá Morales’ morphological approach, allows us to identify the spatial properties that are decisive in improving urban environments at the neighbourhood and community level in terms of safe neighbourhoods, deepening the urbanisation modes of the Neoliberal States that influence the perception of security.