Unequal urbanization, punitive control, and citizenship in dependent economies

Abstract

We discuss the relationship between urbanization and public security in dependent economies, focusing on Brazil. The relationship between urbanization and police and penal control is a two-way street: urban growth produces new demands for criminal justice, while security concerns shape urban space itself. This dynamic is more acute in contexts of greater social inequality and stronger authoritarian traditions. Residential segregation is a central factor in the production of urban violence, though not exclusive, as it also results from the state’s repressive apparatus, the globalized criminal economy, and diverse socioeconomic variables. The hegemonic political response has been the criminalization of poverty, contested by urban social movements that articulate citizenship in a language of equal rights.