The Role of the Perception of Fear in the Disintegration of Neighborhoods and the Appearance of Crime

Abstract

The presence of the perception of fear in Latin American neighborhoods is a symptom of the economic inequality and insecurity experienced on a daily basis. This problem causes a series of social problems ranging from incivilities, deterioration of urban space, to the disintegration of communities. This article contrasts two contiguous communities in a commune in Santiago, Chile, where we can analyze how urban interventions, municipal programs and CPTED tools applied affect the emergence or lack of community ties and therefore have an effect on the perception of insecurity in the area. The urban elements present in the neighborhood are also analyzed, in order to consider their state at the time of the research; in this way and through the experiences and perceptions of the inhabitants, we can correlate the integration of communities and feelings of insecurity.

1 Introduction

Based on the situations in the Latin American region, where the palpable and disproportionate inequality of its inhabitants has resulted in a series of symptoms where cities are the scenario, the problem of insecurity stands out above all others, being still, and for some decades now, the priority for the inhabitants who demand actions for its mitigation. These demands stand out over other critical issues such as health and education, sensitive issues for the region.

Situations of inequality and job uncertainty in Latin America have led to problems that have made the region the most violent in the world. The perception of fear in cities is one of the results of these problems and can be even more harmful than the crime itself.

The perception of fear can be a sign of a developed urban space that at the same time makes social exclusion, economic and cultural disintegration notorious (Borja 2000). The phenomenon becomes a disarticulator of the society that inhabits a territory, depriving them of the activities and freedoms they should have in a city.

As a disarticulator, the perception of fear in the physical environment contributes significantly to the lack of social cohesion, affects the economic activities of a territory and can become an antecedent for the emergence of crime in certain areas, as it is capable of provoking the abandonment of public spaces, allowing the emergence of undesired behaviors, incivilities and finally crime. Recognizing the existing sense of fear shared by most of the inhabitants of a city or community means that it is possible to understand the transformation of the environment in which they carry out their regular activities: It is no longer neutral, and the phenomenon of insecurity and fear become part of this environment.

Under the current paradox in which public spaces have become a focus for the sensation of fear and an area where, primarily, youth exclusion takes place, the importance of their recovery and the empowerment of the inhabitants plays a very important role.

When speaking of the perception of fear in the physical environment, one must consider those elements that coexist in it and generate nervousness about crime. It is the symbols and attributes of the built space that allow the problem of the perception of fear to arise in a given area (Ferraro 1995).

Perception, is a subjective concept (Cruz 2012) and directly linked to specific situations, personal experiences, and constructions of the individual or collective imaginaries, must be evaluated contextually in each case of research; however, it is possible to generate standards that allow us to locate the perception of fear physically at neighborhood scale and thus identify those spatial attributes that generate it and establish guidelines to reverse them.

With the theoretical review made in this article, a more specific analysis is made of the practical research works carried out in 2018 (Valdez López and Gurovich Weisman 2019), which, having been applied on a neighborhood scale and in a community manner, the information gathered left opportunity for new analyses, which would answer the role of community cohesion in the disintegration or integration of a neighborhood, as well as the identification of the configuration variables and urban elements that allow the appearance of fear in the territory and in the same way. Taking into account these aspects, it is possible then to reverse the effects of the perception of fear in neighborhoods, especially if we focus on the vulnerable ones, in order to have positive results, such as the mitigation of criminal events.

The crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) methodology plays a very important role in this article, since perception is a subjective issue and can be formed collectively, it is relevant to take information from the community, so the collection of information, interviews and surveys conducted were done in a communitarian way, with the support of the Community Centers of the neighborhood of the case study.

CPTED gave us the guideline for the formulation of the analysis methodology, which consists of primary information and the implementation of CPTED tools such as community mapping that will serve to detect areas of interest for the report.

The following pages will show the importance of incorporating a factor such as the perception of fear into the principles of urban planning and public safety, to avoid these phenomena and their consequences in the territory, in social disintegration and what this represents for the way of life of a community. If possible, the incorporation of these issues gives us the guideline for the search for quality urban indicators, which can include within what we already know as the quality of life of the neighborhoods, the search for spaces conducive to the social interaction of its inhabitants without the phenomenon of fear arises.

2 Theoretical Basis

2.1 Perception of Fear: Definitions and Affectations in the Socio-Territorial Aspect

Starting with perception, which as we know is a subjective phenomenon caused by different variables, we can understand its development in a better way, thanks to the Gestalt theory, which considers that the process of looking at the world is the result of the relationship between the properties imposed by the object and the nature of the observing subject, based on the capture of significant structures. Such structures are considered as total, that is, the human mind captures the structural organization of the object, scene or external stimulus as a whole (Briceño Avila and Gil Scheuren 2004).

Following these authors, the idea that perception should be a starting point for the analysis of various aspects of the city since it is this that fundamentally feeds the features that define the city (which can be visual, auditory, sonorous) is one of the most important criteria on which to base this analysis.

When we take the concept to the territory, we can link the meaningful structures mentioned in the theory to the messages contained in the physical space. These non-verbal messages, as territorial marks, which are traces of behavior, inform people belonging to a place or outsiders, which are the accepted behaviors. In this way, the environment sends a message that is a reflection of the general context in which the inhabitants of the area live day by day.

In the case of the perception of fear, then the “object, scene or external stimulus” mentioned by Briceño Ávila and Gil Scheuren (2004) must be of a violent or at least aggressive nature, where the individual develops feelings of worry, discomfort and a sense of total loss of control. In the Latin American scenario, especially if we focus on vulnerable areas, these feelings are linked to the uncertainties that are the most important problem of that region have. As an example, the threat of being assaulted with a firearm not only lies in the danger that this action alone indicates, but aligns, so the inability to access quality medical services in case of being wounded or the concern generated by knowing that they could stop supporting their family economically.

Supporting this idea, Marín Cuevas (2016) argues that the perception that an individual has of losing control over the decisions he/she has to make on a daily basis has a direct impact on the perception of fear of situations such as crime, job or financial expectations, or anxiety appears as a result of this loss of control.

The relationship that exists between the fear of a society and reality is often very close, especially in vulnerable territories; the mixture of fears and reality helps to formulate the perception of fear experienced by the inhabitants of a community or city; however, it should be taken into account that the perception is made under experiences, which are subject to the view from the experience of each individual, so that in many cases, the perception may be distanced from reality; however, perception can lead to believe that the crime situation is intolerable and irreversible and as it is so logically changes the way of life and comes to appear different pathologies and dysfunctionalities in behaviors.

This fear is then translated into the physical, appearing the symbols of fear: urban and design elements that aim to make the individual or community feel safer. These symbols can vary depending on the location and the social class of the community observed. For example, in low socioeconomic areas, people tend to try to defend themselves as much as possible; in these cases, there are notable padlocked fences, barbed wire protections, ironwork on windows, high fences on houses, some with broken bottles attached to them.

Moreover, in these areas, especially when the works of appropriation of the space have not been implemented, and the owners of the public space are the groups with deviant behaviors, we can observe in the public space other types of signs that have to do with vandalism: graffiti, damaged furniture and urban elements, lack of maintenance, among others.

While in the upper class, the symbols of fear, although having the same objective, are less rudimentary and closer to the new security technologies. In these cases, although it is possible to identify symbols of fear such as high fences, these will have electrified fences; instead of padlocks, the fences have private security personnel that watch over the houses and in some points, going unnoticed, security cameras can be seen.

This is not the only thing, in this scenario, the symbols of fear were not only translated to the territory, but transformed the way communities were designed, giving way to the maximum expression of the architecture of fear, which is the gated community or urbanization, which, given the crime scenarios in the region, has become the new residential development par excellence (Díaz and Honorato 2011).

It is also necessary to mention that in these cases, it is especially visible the profit with personal security that has marked the context in which Latin American cities have developed, since this is capable of modeling and fragmenting spaces; it also models societies and social contexts, such as inequality and that it is easy to recognize at present as phenomena specific to our region (Valdez López and Gurovich Weisman 2019).

However, these closed areas are not synonymous with communities or, in any case, healthy communities. This type of control of public space brings with it, in turn, greater isolation, becoming homogeneous places that self-manage their greater or lesser collective wealth and defend it from others. Where race tends to mix with class antagonisms, gated communities will have a marked racist component (Díaz and Honorato 2011). In this way, these communities protect themselves from the street, considering it as a space that has no control and finally abandoning public space, leaving it free to be appropriated by groups of deviant behavior.

There are socio-cultural elements that can construct symbols that are associated with danger; when mixed with existing problems in the territory of delinquency, crime and/or violence, evidently and almost inevitably, the phenomenon of the perception of fear is compounded, since these elements would have to do with the meanings that each criminal group gives it, depending on the country and region in which it is located. These symbols will be used automatically in situations, in which the individual recognizes them and any sign involved in these symbols represents warning messages and therefore fear (Villalba Olivella 2017).

Trying to regain the control that fear generate purely instinctive process, which is why the reaction to these feelings is generally defensive actions, which is why it is translated to the territory in the manner analyzed above. The efforts then, to mitigate fear, is to transform it, according to Bauman (2007), the alternative so far used is to convert it into risk; in this way, we can calculate the levels of damage, prevent and control them, characteristics that fear does not have.

Taking into account all of the above, it is not strange to encounter phenomena such as the perception of fear in cities, which, across countries and different contexts, may have different definitions. When we talk about perception, we have to take into account its subjectivity and the fact that it can be formulated individually or collectively, which is how the perception of fear can be manifested from violent situations occurring in the context of daily activities carried out in a city or community, which can lead to the stigmatization of communities, individuals or places.

The perception of fear should not be confused with the perception of insecurity, which has to do with the fear of crime in the abstract; nor should it be confused with the fear of crime, which refers to the fear of citizens of being personally victims of crime (Álvarez Díaz de León 2013); the perception of fear also combines the feeling of vulnerability that one or several individuals can develop in the face of risks in their immediate environment.

The lack of protection from them is strongly related to a lack of appropriation of the territory, which is not only linked to behaviors within the given space, but also to a cognitive, symbolic and affective dimension, as well as a lack of identity and belonging to groups.

The effects of the presence of the phenomenon of the perception of fear within societies and their behavior are multiple, and depending on the area of study, new ones will be formulated. It is fair to say that, within these, there are negative effects in the economic-labor area, given the potential danger of leaving home to go to work or having a business that could be a focus of violence at any time; it also affects investments both within the country in certain sectors, but also internationally. It is also important to mention the effects of the perception of fear in the communities. Here, the main way in which the phenomenon manifests itself is through the inability to establish effective ties with peers (neighbors and inhabitants of the area), which in turn increases distrust and therefore the perception of fear.

Whatever the area from which we see the perception of fear, the effects on social relations are palpable and do not help to improve the scenarios of violence in the region or in the country. So far, a society that has lost control over the way of life and its interactions in the public space has become paranoid, where the norm is to accept and normalize the exposure of violence, whose causes are unknown or are covered by the media or the state itself. It is then where social diseases appear, the perception of fear (justified or not) becomes agoraphobia, xenophobia and a series of symptoms that are increasingly common in contemporary Latin American society.

2.2 Urban Configuration and Design: Its Role in the Incidence of Fear and Crime

If we look at the cities in Latin America, they share similarities in terms of their development process, which was a product of the colonization of the native cultures of the region. This is why in most cities, we can observe accelerated growth that began in colonial times and continues in the contemporary city, now with other characteristics and causes that have to do with globalization. These and many other situations have created cities that lack coherent urban spaces and have irregular urban configurations that do not promote quality of life. The healthy growth and development of cities should be focused on an adequate organization of the productive, economic and social activities that constitute a functional society, but should also perpetuate the organization of physical form; in this context, Spreirengen (1971) mentions that the task of urban design is to create the necessary living conditions to accommodate the different activities of human beings, in terms of the physical organization, that is, the perceived organization of the city, taking into account the permanent change that these represent.

The urban configuration, that is, the built space, reflects the economic organization, the social organization, the political structures, the objectives of the dominant social groups. “You just have to know how to read, because, indeed, the landscape can be read as a text” (Capel 2001).

The design of the environment in a city is composed of images that come from an infinity of elements, situations and expressions that enclose the diversity of this space. It is with this that humans begin to create their perceptions. All the information provided by the environment constitutes the material with which the individual creates images and sensations; in this way, he reads the environment and begins to decipher messages within the symbols contained in the city. So, if symbols can communicate, it is necessary for the good development of the inhabitants, that these messages encourage behaviors accepted by the society in question.

This is where the importance of this urbanized space being of quality and capable of providing the basic needs required by society comes in.

For this to be possible, the integration of urban dwellers is necessary. The grouping of human beings is an evolutionary necessity that allowed the species to survive; therefore, this action is sought naturally. In sociology, social cohesion refers more to belonging than to social integration mechanisms. Hopenhayn (2007) explains that “the axis is subjective-universal, that is, it relies on subjectivity but assumes, precisely, that there is something in this subjectivity in which everyone agrees -an effective collective imaginary for life in common-. In this sense, too, cohesion has a direct relationship with the intensity of social interaction within a given group, and with a common orientation regarding the future of the society to which one belongs.” So, if on the one hand social cohesion includes concepts such as belonging and social interaction in a group, as well as the intensity in which this occurs, we can see it as society’s offer to include individuals in the dynamics of progress and well-being (Hopenhayn 2007). In this sense, and taking it to the Latin American reality, not only do the inhabitants of the region fulfill a basic need to be part of a community, but it also refers to an intention to improve their quality of life.

In this regard, Salas, in his 1996 text Arquitectura contemporánea, argues that: “… areas with a higher degree of perceptual cohesion produce images that generate sensations of emotional security and intensification of the human experience. The less cohesive environments provoke confusion, insecurity, and lack of identification of the inhabitant with his city” (Salas 1996).

Thus, when we speak from the territorial point of view and taking into account that it is the city that helps to develop the individual and collective perception of a space; in the current context of the Latin American region, the cities have been a broad scenario where the perception of fear has developed and spread, thanks to their characteristics lacking appropriate and quality spaces for the healthy development of their inhabitants. In support of this idea, authors Bru and Vicente point out that it is precisely the urban territory that forces coexistence and therefore the definition of policies for the integration of different citizens, without forgetting that these differences or inequalities are the origins of insecurity and fear; however, interaction among citizens is the only way to truly mitigate this phenomenon (Bru and Vicente 2004).

Continuing with the analysis of what Salas postulates, it is necessary to emphasize that for this perception of fear not to spread, the built environment and its quality play a very important role. This means that the idea that Salas puts forward in “Contemporary Architecture” of 1996, about the perceptual cohesion generated by the architectural form in the urban, proposes to synthesize the concepts of identity, legibility, unity, meaning and structure of the urban environment.

Lynch’s city affirms or suggests that this cohesion is closely associated with urban environmental quality. Likewise, the same author points out that a quality built environment produces images that generate sensations of emotional security and intensification of the human experience, while less favorable scenarios provoke confusion, insecurity and lack of identification of the inhabitant with his city (Salas 1996).

Taking it to a closer scale, we can intuit that the importance of the quality of residential public spaces lies in the ideas previously exposed, since it is the place where the individual relates with greater intensity, especially if we see it from the gender perspective, since, as Aragón (2015) argues, “the study on public space in neighborhoods conducted in Santiago de Chile, shows how the neighborhood is the female reference of the city: men have more capacity to move in the city while women stay to a greater extent in the neighborhood. The use of neighborhood public space is highly conditioned by the feeling of insecurity that women perceive in many cases in it.” It is at the neighborhood scale where the perception of fear and insecurity is strongly developed since it is the direct scenario where the new generations develop; this is why the quality of neighborhood public spaces has been widely investigated and has been directly related to the development of its inhabitants.

De la Puente (1988) points to the need to give more relevance to public spaces; in order to satisfy needs that may not be found inside the home, the author also talks about how the environment affects the human being: “…the social environment of urban habitat affects its residents in different ways and can mean both an environment of friendship and security as well as social pressure and insecurity” (De La Puente 1988).

All these aspects lead us to define that public spaces that do not satisfy the needs of appropriation, identity, legibility of their users in an adequate way, in conjunction with a community lacking affective ties with its neighbors does not support community cohesion and therefore, leaves the public space inhospitable, ready to be approached by groups of deviant behaviors.

Groups are generally been made to fulfill the need for identity and belonging, which as mentioned above is a human need.

Supporting this idea and based on the ideas of Taylor (1987), undesired behaviors can appear in cities, due to the characteristics of the physical environment; in this context, land use defines which areas are private or semi-private and which are public or open to the community. These land uses to define where gaps of undesired behavior will occur and therefore where areas of opportunity for undesired behavior can be established. This happens for several reasons: First, public spaces are less central to residents and therefore of less importance to them; second, public spaces by definition attract outsiders and strangers thus producing a mix of users; third, public spaces may lack natural gatekeepers (Taylor 1987).

Certainly, the design of spaces has a great influence on the appearance of these undesired behaviors, but it is also the space that can defend you from this, and it is this dichotomy that gives us a range of possibilities of intervention of the space to improve it, which although it can be physical, with the theoretical analysis that was done in this work, it is logical to incorporate a look social, where the community is the protagonist and acts as a cohesive element of the community. This is not a new concept, Jane Jacobs postulated it already in 1960, where although her works were not dedicated to social cohesion, they were strongly linked to the idea of social interaction as a way to feel safe in a place. “A busy street is likely to be a safe street. An uncrowded street is likely to be an unsafe street” (Jacobs 1962). In this way, Jacobs makes it clear that the quality of the built environment per se is not enough to prevent criminal behavior within an area, but that there must be social activities that encourage interaction among them, generating social networks and, in turn, fostering the appropriation of the territory they inhabit.

In this way, the author Echazarra (2014) also tries to explain why an effectively cohesive community does not experience as much perception of fear as those that are not. According to the author, there are three reasons: Firstly, they are more successful in controlling deviant behaviors, secondly, an organized community is more effective in maintaining common spaces, and thirdly, the sense of community, which creates a sense of belonging to a social group and reduces the perception of danger (Echazarra 2014).

As an example of good design practices, we can take into account the research conducted by Angélica J. Aragón in 2015, in Santiago de Chile: “Urbanism as a trigger of violence,” where she studied the public space in the neighborhoods of this city and that had a field study, she was able to establish characteristics and effects on the use of public spaces by the inhabitants and that had to do with the good use and socially accepted behaviors. This study identified that the placement of elements with recreational activities in public spaces, and their good condition attracts a greater diversity of users. It also identified that quality public spaces encourage their use for long periods of time, thanks to lighting elements. Finally, he observed that the elements that constitute edges present intensive circulation, both in the perimeter of the public space, as well as in the center, which speaks of space under constant surveillance (Aragón 2015).

Finally, and by way of conclusion, urban design and configuration, although it plays an important role in the perception of fear, is also a tool that allows us to generate intervention plans that help form a community and prevent criminal activities. All the concepts analyzed so far agree on the importance of urban spaces for the development of their inhabitants, and the environment is recognized as a tool for community cohesion.

2.3 Environment and Behavior: The Paradox of Public Space in Latin America

Although at this point of the article we have mentioned the aspect of desired or undesired behaviors in public space and how it incites them, it is necessary at this point to clarify that in reality, both the public space can generate these behaviors through the perception of the individual, and the individual and his behaviors can affect the public space and deteriorate it. This relationship of opposing ways is given for the different social contexts of the space in which they develop, that is, it is not possible to identify the causes of deterioration of public space or unwanted behaviors, without studying in-depth the concerns, needs, shortcomings and in general all the relationships that the community or individual generate in space.

In order to better understand the behavior-space relationship, it is necessary to delve into environmental psychology, since it is interested in the theoretical and empirical analysis of the relationships between human behavior and its physical, built, natural and social environment (Roth 2000). It is through this how we could explain the behavior in the public space, based on authors who have studied the subject since its conformation. In this sense, and continuing with the idea raised at the beginning of this chapter, Willems (1973) proposes in his studies that behavior is a property of the system rather than an attribute of the individual, which means that this author suggests that it is the built environment that shapes people’s behavior. On the other hand, Prochansky asserted that man is simply a component about his other components “man does not exist except in his relations with other components” (Proshansky et al. 1978).

Perloff (1973) speaks of the influence that the quality of the environment in which people live, work and play has on their quality of life. “The environment can be satisfying and attractive and enable individual development or it can be noxious, irritating and stultifying” (Perloff 1973). Likewise, the neglect of this criterion can show within the territory traits of dissociation, being found in behaviors due to the deterioration of the identity produced by the neglect of the individual’s environment and precarious living conditions (Entel 2007).

With the knowledge of these ideas, we can then state that the how society relates to its environment has led to the realization that the way in which society has evolved has shaped to some extent the contemporary human being. This evolution has to do to a great extent with the appearance of cities, which due to their complexity and the agglomeration of services and activities has led to the radical modification of the way societies live and generated a diversity of ways of life within them that strongly contrasts with those of rural areas.

Knowing that environmental psychology is a branch that develops multidisciplinary and that its development has gone hand in hand with concepts that were established from urbanism and architecture, it is important to mention that this relationship unfortunately is one that has not yet fully coalesced and that if so, the design of spaces would be enriched.

We can also intuit that this lack of connection between these disciplines (environmental psychology, architecture and urbanism) would explain why within Latin American cities, above all, spaces continue to be built that help the appearance of undesired behaviors, perception of fear and problematic activities and in fact potentiate them. As exhibited by Méndez Rodríguez and collaborators (2013), “a closer relationship between environmental psychology, architecture and urbanism, are necessary especially for the search of quality urban indicators that achieve to improve life within cities.” Coinciding with this, Corraliza and Aragones point out that environmental psychology tries to raise the need to evaluate urban spaces, taking into account the degree to which these may or may not satisfy individual and social needs within a community.

Although no indicators have been presented that combine these disciplines, there are quality indicators used by UNICEF in its “Child Friendly Cities” program, and for this purpose, the authors Corraliza and Aragones establish criteria to ensure the quality of the indicators.

The quality of urban spaces is strongly related to the elements and criteria proposed by Jacobs (1962) and De La Puente (1988), which were previously analyzed. In this way, the authors suggest the following criteria: in the first place, the need to control contact and social interaction, which refers to the importance of taking into account population density in the design of urban spaces and, like Jacobs, emphasizes the importance of remodeling and renovation. In addition to Jacobs’ voice, they also state the criterion of the need for varied social activities, and relying also on different psychological research, they mention that the success of a public space does not depend only on its design, but also on the activities to use those public spaces, remembering that these are scenarios for social life.

The second criterion is the need for security and responsibility in maintenance, which alludes to the need for community cohesion since it is necessary for the society that inhabits the space to take responsibility and not depend solely on the authorities. As Newman mentions “A disengaged and apathetic citizenry often merely criticizes the police for failing to perform a task that, in truth, should be performed by itself.” (Newman 1972). While the state has a responsibility for public spaces, the proper appropriation of space by its direct inhabitants is a relationship that can ensure its maintenance, sustainability and therefore its constant use. The appropriation of space consists of the possibility of moving, stopping, owning, acting, resenting, admiring, dreaming, learning, creating according to desires, aspirations and projects. It corresponds to a set of psychosocial processes that are situated in a subject-object relationship, between the subject (individual or group) that appropriates the space and objects arranged around it in everyday life (Aguilar 1990).

There is also the criterion of the need for esthetic satisfaction in design and planning, since these create urban landscapes that have a great importance for the performance and identity of the residents of a territory.

The importance of quality of urban spaces is essential to help the good development of individuals. Despite this, and the studies carried out by the aforementioned authors who agree with this theory, currently, the context of the quality of spaces is generally tied to the expectations of groups with high economic levels within a city; it is not strange, but paradoxical that, for example, in most of the cities of the Latin American region, green areas are concentrated in communes with more resources; and it is paradoxical, since, if we understand the foundations of the aforementioned authors in their theories of environment development, and the criteria set forth by Corraliza and Aragones, then the places with the greatest need for well-designed, quality environments, with elements that help prevent crime, are those with the highest levels of crime and which tend to be poor sectors.

In this way, we raise this paradoxism, which the author Jordi Borja also mentions in his articles, where he raises this current paradoxism in which public spaces have become, contrary to its main objective, in foci for the feeling of insecurity for the citizen and an area where youth exclusion takes place, so again we find the importance of the quality of public spaces (Borja 2000).

This paradox is spatially notorious in Latin American cities, where it is these areas that, in the neighborhoods that have access to this type of public space, become focal points for crime or activities related to drug trafficking. There are several factors that can lead to these conditions and that we can mention thanks to those already written in this theoretical basis, the lack of community cohesion that has allowed the emergence of agoraphobia in the neighborhoods, the lack of attention of the state in the maintenance of these spaces, in addition to the problems of exclusion, inequality and lack of opportunities, snatches a community of the basic right of security and recreation.

2.4 CPTED and Perception of Fear

As mentioned briefly above, it is important to explain the CPTED® methodology as it represents the basis for the methodology applied in the study conducted in 2018 and will be discussed below. “CPTED is a set of practical crime prevention implementation strategies that seek to reduce opportunities to commit crimes of opportunity, as well as to reduce community fear by increasing community cohesion” (Rau Vargas 2005). It is these three objectives that make the methodology of interest, but especially its community component. Since the perception of fear is a subjective phenomenon and can be formed collectively, CPTED is aligned with the purpose of the study.

But before going into the methodology, it is necessary to mention the theoretical models from which CPTED was developed.

• a. Jane Jacobs’ theory of eyes on the street (Jacobs 1962), which argues that security in urban space is associated with the level of contact and trust that communities can establish with each other. In this way, Jacobs created the term “eyes on the street” to indicate the need for individuals in public space to provide natural surveillance by the inhabitants themselves and generate a perception of security.

• b. Oscar Newman’s Defensible Space (Newman 1972) puts Jacobs’ ideas into practice from the perspective of what he called defensible space. In this case, and due to its purely territorial, almost segregated approach, the result of this theory was not crime reduction, but was the precursor of gated communities and, as mentioned above, the emergence of the architecture of fear.

• c. Another theory that should be mentioned is that of the spatial syntax laboratory of the Bartlett University of London. Bill Hillier, author of spatial syntax (Hillier 1996), argues that urban safety is closely linked to a city’s system of movement flows. In this way, he links theoretical elements, such as natural surveillance, not only of the resident neighbors of a space, but with the virtual community that cohabits the space.

• d. Finally, the Situational Crime Theory (Jeffery 1978). This line of thought supports the CPTED strategy, where the appropriate environmental design of a given territory can reduce both crimes of opportunity and the perception of fear by increasing social cohesion. To achieve this, it is essential to prioritize the experience of the inhabitant as an expert of his or her own perception of environmental security.

The origin of the CPTED methodology arises mainly under the influence of architecture and urban development, examining how these variables facilitate or hinder the exercise of informal social control over a given space (Rau Vargas 2016).

CPTED is based on five principles that are universal, but adapted locally:

• a. Natural surveillance: ability to see and be seen and to feel confidence in the urban space because of its physical characteristics and the people who inhabit it. The high visibility of a place increases the possibility of control over it by its users and, therefore, decreases the possibility of illegal acts occurring there.

• b. Territorial reinforcement: it is the bond of affection that the inhabitant establishes with his environment and therefore takes care of it. Placing marks in the territory, symbols that say that it is being watched over by a community.

• c. Natural Access Control: the territorial appropriation of accesses by the civil community in a spontaneous manner through their use or marking. Natural access control seeks to promote, through design strategies, social or natural control over access to a given space.

• d. Public Space Maintenance: the design of environmental management plans to ensure the sustainability of the strategy. This in turn reinforces the inhabitants’ sense of belonging to their environment and contributes to generating adequate use and care for it.

• e. Community Participation: the incorporation of the community in the diagnosis, design, implementation and evaluation of the CPTED strategy. In this way, access is gained to the wisdom of the native expert, and it is possible to generate adequate responses to the community’s problems.

In terms of tools, this methodology uses several that are applied depending on the case and the type of interventions required in the territory to be analyzed. The most representative ones are mentioned next:

• Exploratory Safety Walk (MES): Exploratory safety walks allow the community to determine the places where they feel unsafe (streets, parks, public transportation systems, commercial premises, schools, among others) (Rau Vargas 2003),

• Drawing Workshop (TD): These dynamics consist of asking people from the community (preferably children), considered as expert inhabitants of a neighborhood, to “dream their space” to intervene. For this purpose, they are offered crayons and blank cardboard so that they can draw their ideas. Once the drawings are finished, they are exhibited in assembly and discussed, explaining the intention of each author. Depending on the case, various projective aspects of the image are analyzed, ranging from the quantity and differentiation of elements, the color, the intensity of the line and the messages that have been written. The drawings can be made by settlers of different ages, with the contribution of children being considered especially valuable (Program for Citizen Coexistence 2015).

• Community Mapping (MP): It is a tool that asks a group of neighbors about their perception of insecurity in the neighborhood and the problems that are experienced in it. It is represented as ellipses, and each interviewee defines his ellipse and the mark on a map. Take advantage of the territorial knowledge of the native expert and have a georeferenced database, which allows us to obtain data such as places of risk, critical crime areas, neighborhood problems and perception of fear.

Given that the objective of this work is to study the perception of fear and localize it in the territory, it was important to mention these tools and highlight the role played by community participation in them; without this element, the analysis of the phenomenon would not be possible.

3 Methodology

“Author’s Notes”:

• The information gathered and the analysis of this article are framed in the scenario before the pandemic. Therefore, further research should be conducted to learn how this situation is affecting the perception of fear in the case study.

The objective of this study is to establish, through primary and secondary information, how the phenomenon of the perception of fear affects community cohesion, how this phenomenon affects the appearance of crime and finally, how it translates to urban space.

This will be done through secondary information obtained by the Territorial Information Section of the Criminal Analysis Department of the Carabineros, which through the Territorial Information Analysis System (SAIT), a platform that georeferences criminal acts as well as educational establishments, green areas, commerce, neighborhood centers, among others. The SAIT compiles information and generates hotspots of the areas with the highest incidence of crime.

In addition, the information provided in the Report of the Observatory of Drug Trafficking in Chile, which provides a current portrait of the criminal phenomenon of drug trafficking in Chile, will be used. This report uses the resources and experiences of the drug unit and the contributions of other institutions in this area.

Finally, a cadastee of the CPTED interventions carried out in the area from 2016 to 2018 was obtained, which was the term of data collection. To establish relationships between these interventions and the behaviors and perceptions of the inhabitant, this information was obtained thanks to the transparency portal of the Municipality of Puente Alto, Chile.

As for the primary information, we will rely on the semi-structured group interviews that were conducted in 2018, with people from the communities of the case study. The methodology chosen in this part corresponds to the need for the narrative to emerge naturally and for the neighbors’ appreciations to stand out collectively, since personal experiences can give a more complete vision of the daily life that is lived. Having given them freedom and having them in an environment of trust, the information obtained tells us about their environment with the neighbors and the coexistence among them.

Finally, these two sources of information will be analyzed, areas of importance in the territory will be established, and the occurrence of these phenomena will be analyzed, reaching the objectives previously mentioned.

3.1 Case Study: Pedro Aguirre Cerda Neighborhood (PAC), in the Puente Alto District, Chile

Puente Alto is the largest commune within the territory of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago de Chile. It derives from a settlement called Las Arañas, which at the beginning of the nineteenth century was located at the entrance to the Maipo River mountain range, after the opening of an important mountain pass, the installation of mining operations, the laying of a cable bridge to Pirque and the construction of the Eyzaguirre Canal (today the San Carlos Canal).

At the beginning, the population of this commune was dedicated to services and industries that were located in the territory. This commune has a great trajectory in traditions and social events that were part of the activities of the neighbors of the place. However, at the end of the 70s, some political and social events provoked the forced migration of people from the center of Santiago to Puente Alto. This new reality brought with it patterns that were linked to the impact of the new social vulnerability unleashed by the rejection of the new residents qualified as foreign and improper (Image 11.1).

Image 11.1

Source Puente Alto twentieth century: Photographic Retrospective

Activities of the residents of Puente Alto. In the upper left: Parade of Carabineros 1960; top right: nurses parade 1976; lower left: Union Clavero 1962 Sports Club; lower right: National Theater 1960.

This article will be based on the Pedro Aguirre Cerda neighborhood, located in the southwest of the Puente Alto commune. It is located on the west side of the Puente Alto commune, comprising the quadrant between the streets Abate Molina, El Cabildo, San Pedro Street and Concha y Toro Avenue. Images 11.2 and 11.3 show the neighborhood location reference.

Image 11.2

Source Own elaboration from images taken from google maps

Location of neighborhood Pedro Aguirre Cerda.

Image 11.3

Source Author’s own elaboration from the Municipal Regulatory Plan of Puente Alto

Plan of the PAC, which shows the delimitation of the neighborhood, its structure and urban elements of interest.

Several crime and delinquency problems have been identified in this area. According to Carabineros data, the most frequent crimes are robbery with violence, robbery with intimidation, burglary and injuries. There is also an important presence of drug micro-trafficking, drug possession and consumption, which, in addition to provoking violent situations, generates a general feeling of insecurity throughout the neighborhood.

One of the important factors that promotes the feeling of insecurity among the inhabitants of the PAC is the strong presence of drug gangs and consumers that gather in the streets; these criminal gangs that act with absolute impunity look for new members within the neighborhood and frighten the neighbors by appropriating spaces for their criminal activities.

3.2 Secondary Information

In order to visualize the crimes occurring in the PAC, information was obtained from the SAIT, which is a georeferenced information system of Carabineros de Chile. In this way, it manages to show in the territory, through hotspots, the Crimes of Major Social Connotation (D.M.C.S.), which according to this institution are those corresponding to the groups that are most affected, called “Violent Crimes” (Robbery with Violence, Robbery with Intimidation, Robbery by Surprise, Injuries, Homicide and Rape) and “Crimes against Property” (Theft of Motor Vehicle, Theft of Vehicle Accessories, Robbery in an Inhabited Place, Robbery in a Non-Inhabited Place, Other Robberies with Force and Theft).

The information obtained from the Observatory of Drug Trafficking in Chile and the points located in the territory of the occurrence of crimes related to drug trafficking will also be used.

Image 11.4 shows the map with the information of the 2018 D.M.C.S. hotspots in the study area, as well as information from the Drug Trafficking Observatory.

Image 11.4

Source Author’s own elaboration based on information provided by the SAIT and the Drug Trafficking Observatory

Map of the neighborhood that shows the SIAT Hotspots and the points of criminal occurrence in terms of drug trafficking from the Chilean Drug Trafficking Observatory.

The mapping of urban intervention projects carried out by the Chilean Undersecretariat of Crime Prevention in this area is also presented and shows this information on Image 11.5. Projects that may be affecting the phenomenon of Perception of Fear, as well as the occurrence of delinquency and crime. The information was extracted from the transparency page of the municipality of Puente Alto and is projects carried out by the Undersecretariat of Crime Prevention from 2016 to 2018.

Image 11.5

Source Author’s own elaboration from the information obtained in the transparency page of the municipality of Puente Alto

Map of the PAC neighborhood with recent urban interventions.

3.3 Primary Information

For the primary information, we first present the semi-structured interview that was conducted in groups in two of the neighborhood councils located in the neighborhood: Pedro Aguirre Cerda 2 and María Magdalena.

This activity was carried out because it is important to have an account of the way of life of the community and how it moves within its territory, so the questions try to focus on the way of life, the coexistence with their neighbors and the concerns they have to develop in their neighborhood.

In the explanation of the instrument, we have avoided talking about “fear, apprehension or feelings of insecurity” in the hope that they would come up naturally in the story, but instead, we ask about the concerns they experience living in the neighborhood.

Being a semi-structured interview, there were variations in the questions and in the way the conversation was conducted, but the format shown below was followed.

3.3.1 Semi-structured Interview

• a. How long have you lived in the area?

• b. How is coexistence in the neighborhood?

• c. Do they live quietly in the neighborhood?

• d. What is your biggest concern?

• e. What places in the neighborhood do they avoid?

• f. Have you implemented security measures such as bars, alarms?

• g. Are the neighbors organized in any way?

• h. Do you think the situation has improved with the interventions that the municipality has made?

• i. Do you think that the people who commit crimes are external or belong to the neighborhood?

• j. What do you think of the lighting that exists in the neighborhood?

• k. What do you think of the parks that are in the neighborhood?

• l. What do you think of the visual field of the neighborhood?

To analyze the data, a comparative list is made of the most significant variables for this article: elements of neighborhood cohesion, behavior, municipal interventions, security measures.

With this type of ordering, an attempt was made to establish the differences in the scenarios that exist in the neighborhood, which made the differences between these two communities notorious despite the fact that they are streets away from each other. The neighbors’ responses to each of these variables are shown below.

• Variable: Elements of neighborhood cohesion: existing.

PAC 2: There were no comments.

MARÍA MAGDALENA:

• Yes, we get along super well.

• It is that perhaps also, we are the closest relatives sometimes of the neighbors, many times the neighbor needs help, something. He has touched me, I have to go to help him from a neighbor.

• You know that I also find that when a conflictive neighbor arrives and since we are calmer, he gradually integrates into the community and is no longer with that aggressiveness because sometimes there are neighbors.

• You talk about the everyday things that happen to us, too. Well, one has so many things to tell because she is alone, suddenly what happened (with the workshops at the headquarters).

• It is also useful for us to leave the house, also because we spend the whole day at home, nothing more and this workshop, we have been with each other for about ten years, we are always the same and it helps us to share.

• We have learned like this, to know our neighbors, because they brought free courses and we know four houses that are asking, hey, how are you? And so around us, but no further, then we began to get to know each other, higher up, lower down, there were also meetings that took us out for a walk and all that. That helped us to unite and get to know our neighbors.

• Variable: Elements of neighborhood cohesion: existing.

PAC 2:

• One day I set the alarm and nobody came out.

• They are at home and they are not united.

• It is less united than before the people.

• Wherever I live too, it seems that the population is new but we are going to turn 30 this year, but first everything was, “hello neighbor, hello neighbor”, everyone greeted each other, now there are very few who say hello.

• And he should have notified the municipality, finally that they put it in another house, but there we were left with nothing, meaning that the effort made by the municipality is useless.

MARÍA MAGDALENA: there were no comments.

• Variable: Behavior that has been negatively modified.

PAC 2:

• You can’t wear earrings because those things happen.

• Now you have to go without a wallet, without jewelry, without anything.

• I was going through there but now I don’t dare, it’s terrible there. One day I was passing by here and I heard the shooting.

In this case there was no positive modified behavior.

MARÍA MAGDALENA: No comments in either of the variables.

• Variable: Municipal interventions that were made.

PAC 2:

• Culture is lacking.

• But they only last a while.

• It also has no light.

• Had in a while.

• But I have no light, no camera.

• Imagine that here they did this beautiful thing on the court for the children to entertain themselves, they put little seats on it, but it is impossible, so in the end they put double bars on it and the seats stayed inside the bars.

• There is not much in some parts no more (lighting).

• It lights up a little outside, but it’s not enough.

• It is what they called a safe point, well, I think that is what it was called, it seems to me and that they did nothing else.

MARÍA MAGDALENA:

• If they have put (lighting).

• Yes, the light is very good (lighting).

• Yes, for my ticket they put (lighting).

• Variable: Security measures.

PAC 2:

• Now you have to be with the door all day, you leave the door with a key, you enter the door with a key.

• I had that thing and they rob us anyway (alarm).

• The alarm they gave us (Count on).

• He went to put a fence on the inside door, so it is a safer one.

• Grate, you have to buy a gun.

• Sure, now it has to be all lattice

• Before a candle lit more than the lights they had put before, now they put on my block.

• If that has improved (luminary).

• Yes enough (for the interventions).

MARÍA MAGDALENA:

• They are trying to have more access to these alarms that they gave us to be able to catch these people so that they do not come again because then one sounds an alarm and then the other neighbors are warned.

• We have here, but it is as an enclosure here that all this is more private, but the streets that are like this, that have entrance on both sides and that they put in the middle, is a danger for people (bars).

• The bars, nothing more, all lattice.

• In mine, always the gate with a key, nothing more, but that the windows have protections, none. They have even always been used, they don’t even close, it’s the most fun, they close here and that’s it, I don’t close anything.

• Those are the community alarms, but we don’t have them.

• That happens here (speaking of community alarms), that was placed on all of us because before they closed the streets, they put a fence on it and it was much more dangerous than if it were open (they removed the fence from his passage).

• In my house, it is never locked, sometimes the door is open and I have never had it locked, on the other hand, all the neighbors have a key.

• I am also the same, I do not leave my door locked.

• Everyone goes out at my house and I go out. One day, the lock broke, I left it open, I go to the bread and leave it open, because the lock sometimes worked and sometimes it didn’t.

• Before I used to see them at night that they were standing in a corner, I saw them from the morning when one went out at a certain time that they were sitting all the time, but now they are not, it has not been seen, something happened that they no longer meet so much.

• At least in this time it has not been seen as much as it had seen last year, more movement, this year not so much.

• Variable: Fears or worries.

PAC 2:

• I believe that if they are from other parts.

• They are scrambled, they are from everywhere.

• If they come from abroad, from other towns.

• Everywhere there are, those who live here steal there and those from there steal here and so on.

• No, I think they are from this same neighborhood (criminals).

• More or less (perception of safety in the neighborhood)

• Sue is our main concern (they rob their houses).

MARÍA MAGDALENA:

• Suddenly the square, a small group with drugs get together, as in any square.

• On the other hand, because they are not known, at least from beyond my village, they are not.

• The other is to go to the side of a garden that there is, there were many people, at night there were many and, in the same day, which is practically close to a school, what gardens, what schools that go every day the kids inside.

• I go out where there is bingo I go, on Saturdays, that is, this Saturday I was like until 1:00 in the morning, but they are going to leave me and they come to look for me, of course at that time it is difficult to find locomotion and all that.

• I have not seen anything strange, no assault, no.

• I go out, because I, for example, like basketball and when they play games that start at 9:00 and end at 11:00 at night, I go and I go out, of course, I take the bus at the square and no, not at that time either.

• And in the old days, when I first got there, anyway, we entered around 1 or 2 in the morning that we worked on events with my sister, and I went in alone at 1 or 2 in the morning that they left me here outside of Izaguirre, nothing, never saw anything, nothing ever happened.

• (He wonders about places they avoid) No, at least, already one, the time comes for everyone to come home from work, one does not go out practically, one closes himself in his house and does not go out; In the morning, in the early hour, that one gets up early to fix the things that go to work, his people and the children to school, but, that one goes out like that to do some paperwork or purchase.

• From Monday to Friday I hardly find myself at home, but I go out there in the square to buy, to look for my fabrics that I sew, or I start painting, I go out to buy paint, but all in the day, already in the square of Puente Alto nothing happens.

3.3.2 Community Mapping

As part of the primary information collected with neighbors in 2018, it is also shown a community mapping was conducted in the neighborhood sections: Pedro Aguirre Cerda 2 and María Magdalena, following the CPTED methodology for this tool and which was explained previously.

The neighbors were presented with a map where they could identify areas that they avoided for fear of crime and identify the reason for their decision. Image 11.6 shows the map that concentrates people responses.

Image 11.6

Source Author’s own elaboration base on information compiled through community participation tools

Community mapping, which shows the areas that the neighbors indicated, they avoid.

From this information, we can begin the analysis of the data and thus determine where in the neighborhood the perception of fear is located, how this affects community cohesion, its relationship with crime and how it translates to public space.

4 Analysis

4.1 Mapping Analysis

For the analysis and formulation of conclusions, the plan with all the elements obtained as a whole is presented.

Image 11.7 shows the elements of the primary and secondary data, with which we can make a reading of what is happening in the territory. According to this first stage of analysis, we can make some observations.

Image 11.7

Source Author’s own elaboration from different sources of information

Map with all the variables of interest.

There is a very marked relationship with the zones and their incidence of delinquency. It can be seen how the western part of the neighborhood is agglomerated with strong problems related to drug use and drug sales. In comparison with the east side, where, for the most part, these are problems of lack of lighting, which, although important for the perception of fear in the neighborhood, is a non-violent situation.

In addition to this last observation, it is notorious that drug trafficking cases, both primary and secondary data, are concentrated in the west of the neighborhood, where the neighborhood configuration loses its order and a disorderly pattern begins. At this point, we can infer that this is due to the fact that these areas are more likely to allow the offender to escape or to have areas where he can hide, or even the so-called trap places.

The plan highlights the almost exact relationship between the points identified as problematic by the secondary information and the information provided by the neighbors to the study, especially concerning drug trafficking, which tells us about an understanding of what is happening in the territory.

Although the eastern area of the neighborhood also has problems of crime and drug trafficking, neighbors do not identify it and limit themselves to identifying areas with a lack of lighting and only one area where drugs are sold. At this point, we can infer that this is due to the fact that the perception of fear in this area is much lower than in the west.

It is notorious in this agglomeration of problems identified in the west zone and its relationship with the interventions carried out by the municipality of Puente Alto, since they are located precisely where these criminal acts are occurring. This may speak of a negative reaction of the neighbors to the interventions by the municipality or of interventions that do not correspond to the needs of the area.

4.2 Interview Analysis

If we go back to look at the responses obtained in the interviews, we can clearly see the differences between sites. Evidently the community that corresponds to María Magdalena and which is located in the center of the neighborhood has a much lower perception of fear, this based on the category of “feelings of fear or concerns” where, although both communities said to have had these feelings, PAC 2 has more mentions of this phenomenon and risk situations are detailed. This coincides with what we see in the territory.

Continuing with the idea of the causes of fear perception, the difference between the two communities in terms of the security measures they implement is also notorious. In both communities, they use some security measures to feel better in the place where they live; in PAC 2, none of the interviewees mentioned that they did not use security measures.

Huge contrast, if you remember the comment that “my house is never locked.”

It is also necessary to mention the differences in terms of neighborhood cohesion, since once again, the María Magdalena community speaks with pride and positive emotions about their interactions with neighbors, as well as the help they give to neighbors and they receive. In the case of PAC 2, a clear rejection is seen, especially by neighbors they identify as new to the area and do not relate to them. In addition, this community expresses the desire to be relocated.

This is supported by the category of “behavior” where it is clear how the PAC 2 community has felt obliged to change some behaviors, including not going to places in the neighborhood and using valuable objects. This is not the case with Maria Magdalena.

Coming to the part of the interventions, Maria Magdalena was the only one that mentioned that urban interventions were made to improve parks and to install street lights; this community also said that they were good and sufficient. PAC 2, on the other hand, said that there were street lights, but they were vandalized or there was simply no lighting. This is striking, because if we remember the idea of mapping analysis, there are criminal occurrences in areas where urban interventions were made; this shows that it is possible that they are not sufficient or do not meet the territorial needs.

4.3 Photographic Analysis

To take a closer look at the attributes of the territory and its urban elements that are helping to generate a perception of fear in the Pedro Aguirre Cerda neighborhood. For this, we will focus on two zones, which call our attention and are shown in Image 11.8.

Image 11.8

Source Author’s own elaboration from different sources of information

Map with all the variables of interest and the study areas.

These two zones were chosen because they present different characteristics that are interesting for the study. Zone 1 shows the pattern of incidences of drug trafficking and crimes of social connotation aligned with the conflictive zones avoided by the residents of the neighborhood who were interviewed. Zone 2 is of interest because, despite having incidences of crime and drug trafficking, neighbors only indicated alcohol consumption and lack of lighting.

4.3.1 Zone 1

The photographs of the terrain of Zone 1 are presented in the following charts, with the aim of knowing the conditions in which the territory is located (Image 11.9).

Image 11.9

Source Author’s own elaboration from different sources

Shows an approach to Zone 1.

Photographs	Observations
Image 11.10	• Juanita Aguirre Street. • The houses have little visual access to the street: small windows and gates that enclose the entrances. • The vegetation placed prevents the view to the outside from the windows of the houses. • The presence of the bars is notable. • Despite having lighting, it is not powerful enough to fully illuminate. • The number of people on the street drops dramatically at night.
Image 11.11	• Homes with little visual access to the street. • The existing vegetation is denser, preventing the view of the houses to the outside. • The presence of bars is notable, as well as high fences. • Despite having lighting, the type of vegetation does not allow it to be adequately illuminated, leaving “dark tunnels” in the sidewalks.
Image 11.12	• It has enough lighting. • The existing vegetation creates darkness on the sidewalks, especially in front of the houses. • The vision of the houses toward the street is interrupted by the type of vegetation. • The paths are quite narrow.

Image 11.10

Source Author’s collection

Photographs of Juanita Aguirre Street, at night and during the day.

Image 11.11

Source Author’s collection

Photographs of Lídice street, at night and during the day.

Image 11.12

Source Author’s collection

Photographs of Calle Marcos Pérezstreet, at night and during the day.

4.3.2 Zone 2

The photographs of the terrain of Zone 2 are presented on the following charts, in order to understand the conditions of the territory (Image 11.13).

Image 11.13

Source Author’s own elaboration from different sources

Shows an approach to Zone 2.

Image 11.14

• It has plenty of lighting at night. • The existing vegetation allows surveillance of the houses to the street and the park itself. • The park is well maintained. • There is a lot of activity at night.

Image 11.15

• It has enough lighting at night in the area, where the sports field is located and the furniture for exercising is dark. • The existing vegetation allows partial surveillance from the houses to the park. • The park is well maintained. • There is a lot of sporting activity during the early hours of the night. • The use of the park changes during the night-early morning when groups that consume alcohol are located in the place. • The urban form in which this park is laid out allows for trap sites that, as they are not well lit, cause vulnerable points for the appearance of crimes. • The internal area of the park is left without lighting.

Image 11.14

Source Author’s collection

Photographs of Calle Circunvalación Presidente Allende and Argentina, at night and during the day.

Image 11.15

Source Author’s collection

Photographs of Calle Circunvalación Presidente Allende and Tocomal Grez, at night and during the day.

5 Conclusions

Finally, with the information from the different sources of information, we can draw conclusions.

We can conclude first of all that the cases of drug trafficking that are occurring in the western zone of the neighborhood may be happening for several reasons, among these, effectively the urban configuration attracts criminal groups to the area, since it is difficult to have natural surveillance in the streets; but also the lack of maintenance of this space is notorious, and it is seen in the photographic analysis of Zone 1, where you can see the trees not pruned, little space on the sidewalk. As stated in the transparency information of the Municipality of Puente Alto, there is lighting in the area, but the field visit shows that the lights are poorly placed and are not bright enough to make the space safe.

As for the interventions carried out by the Undersecretariat and the municipality, they have not had a great impact on the perception of the neighbors in the western area, which is also the area of the PAC 2 community. This is due to the lack of community cohesion that the interviews made clear, which in addition to not encouraging closer ties of coexistence, as established in the theoretical basis, also causes the perception of fear to grow and spread.

On the other hand, the María Magdalena community, which is located to the east of the neighborhood, presents a strong community cohesion and affective ties that translate to the territory, since the parks are in good condition and their lights are working, and the problems reported in the area are related to “lack of lighting,” which in comparison to the issues of concern of the PAC 2 community, are less critical. Thanks to this, the perception of fear is also very low in the area, and this is reflected in the responses of the group interviews.

It should be emphasized that it is the urban interventions carried out with the support of citizen participation tools, including the CPTED methodology in these two areas that have had an impact on the integration of the neighborhood communities, which makes us see the relevance of multidisciplinarity for the improvement of security aspects. In this regard, it is worth noting the psychosocial work carried out especially in the area of the María Magdalena community, who received several workshops by psychologists, teachers and artists, whose activities strengthened community ties and helped in the appropriation of both public space and security interventions.

Finally, we see that in terms of the physical attributes that are conducive to prevent the perception of fear from appearing in a neighborhood, we can conclude that maintenance has a lot to do with it. Well-maintained vegetation, making the lighting fixtures, has a better illumination radius and prevents the furniture from being vandalized. But as mentioned above, this is not possible to achieve without working on community ties.