Rio without make-up The subjective safety perception of low-middle class and upper-high class due to police and surveillance devises Student: Sara Mohebbi Student number: 3870251 Supervisor: Dr. I. van Liempt Institution: University of Utrecht Date: 17-01-2014 Acknowledgement Generally, writing a thesis gives better writing skills and theoretical knowledge, and finishing a thesis brings a degree certificate. However, this thesis brought me much more than the above. It gave me new insights on the world we are living in, a world led by corruption, capitalism and violation of human rights, but also insights on humanity, honesty and equality. I would not have learned these important life lessons without the help and support of the people around me, of which only a few are mentioned in this acknowledgment. First of all, I sincerely would like to express my gratitude to my respondents who enabled this research in the first place. Furthermore, my great thanks go out to my Brazilian friends who brought me into a new world and showed me the true face of Rio de Janeiro In particular Rafael Puetter, Aline Cavalcanti and Sabrina Magalhães, thank you for your willingness and openness to talk about every aspect of your lives, it has truly inspired me. I greatly acknowledge the supervision, patience and feedback provided by Dr. Ilse van Liempt, Junior Assistant Professor in Human Geography and Planning. Thank you Ilse, for your worthy guidance along the road, and for finding the time to guide me through my writing. Also, I want to thank my family and friends, who have supported me during every day and have always believed in me. In particular, Imke de Jong, thank you for sharing your creative illustration skills. And Lotte Rooijendijk for helping me out with the English grammar. Abstract Despite the worrisome high crime rates of Rio de Janeiro it will host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games, These rates are generally associated with the low -middle class residents, among whom crimes appears to develop most. Even though Rio de Janeiro is characterised by the spatial structure of the divided city, upper-high class residential areas are also influenced by this crime. Therefore, the government has the task to transform the city into a safer city by diminishing crime rates. This is done via two safety measures, namely increasing the number of police officers and surveillance devises within urban public spaces. As the government mainly focuses on decreasing the crime statistics, this research will study the subjective safety perception of low-middle class residents and upper-high class residents related to these two safety measures. This research assembled information about safety feelings through ethnographic method. The concept of safety was leading. Results showed that the concept of safety, of the low-middle class residents and upper-high class residents, is perceived in different ways. Whilst the first wishes for basic needs, the second protects themselves through self- protecting in fear of crime. The outcomes of safety perceptions directly linked to the increase of police officers is negatively growing, since all citizens fear police due to the lacking trust within its system, which is also shown in the safety perception of surveillance devises. These results confirmed past studies partly, showing how safety perceptions are indicated. Index Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 6 1. Rio de Janeiro’s framework .................................................................................................. 12 1.1 Violence within Rio de Janeiro ............................................................................................................................ 12 1.2 Divided city .................................................................................................................................................................. 14 1.3 A ‘safer city’ ................................................................................................................................................................. 19 1.4 Measures ....................................................................................................................................................................... 20 1.5 Civil disobedience ..................................................................................................................................................... 25 2. Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................... 27 2.1 Concept of safety ....................................................................................................................................................... 27 2.2 Safety perception through classic theories .................................................................................................... 29 2.3 Safety perception through a Social Constructionist Perspective ......................................................... 34 2.4 Safety perception about police ............................................................................................................................ 36 2.5 Safety perception about monitoring devices ................................................................................................ 37 3. Method ......................................................................................................................................... 39 3.1 Research setting; Rio de Janeiro ......................................................................................................................... 39 3.2 Research location ...................................................................................................................................................... 41 3.3 Research design ......................................................................................................................................................... 42 3.4 Method ........................................................................................................................................................................... 44 3.5 Introduction of the informants ........................................................................................................................... 48 4. Perceiving safety ...................................................................................................................... 52 4.1 Rocinha .......................................................................................................................................................................... 53 4.2 Leblon/Ipanema ........................................................................................................................................................ 57 4.3 ‘The new generation of Rio’ .................................................................................................................................. 59 5. Do people feel safe with the two new measures to built a safe city? ...................... 61 5.1 Increasing number of police officers until 2016 ......................................................................................... 61 5.2 Surveillance and monitoring devices ............................................................................................................... 72 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 79 Sources ............................................................................................................................................. 82 Introduction On the second of October 2009, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Jacques Rogge announced that Rio de Janeiro is awarded to host the mega-event of 2016 Olympic Games. However, as the city deals with high violent crime rates within urban public space (German, 2010), the IOC which is the non-profit organization of the Olympic Games, emphasizes the insecurity issues within Rio de Janeiro. A study of Cardia (2002) shows that violence and crime in South America are historically associated with poverty in urban areas and low-middle class citizens. Because of the poverty, people make money out of robbery, theft, and drug trafficking and created a local economy in their neighbourhoods. In the case of Rio de Janeiro this goes back to the 1970s when economic migrants came to the city without housing and transportation provisions. This triggered the creation of self-made illegal settlements in the unmanaged part of the formal city, outside of the regulated safety of urban services, in neighbourhoods that are also known as ‘favelas’ (Martin, 2012). Through the expansion of the local economy, drug gangs took control over the favelas, which caused armed battles among drug gangs, many times out of their controlling neighbourhoods. This brings the association of violence with favelas and its low-middle class residents: 'favelados'. Hosting mega-events is important for Brazil’s government to develop its country politically and economically (Darnell, 2012), as it has developed as a major player within the economic world, due to its statis of the fifth-largest economy of the world and because of the economic, trade and technological developments within the country (Bernal-Meza, & Christensen, 2013). This