Abstract
Crime and fear have given rise to numerous reactions in the way the built environment takes form. This includes fortification on many scales, from burglar bars on windows and walls around properties to barricades around entire neighbourhoods. This chapter explores the causes and consequences of urban fortification in South Africa. It also considers the implications of crime and urban fortification for socio-spatial order and integration. Some of these consequences contribute to social and economic exclusion, which may reduce opportunities to address poverty and hardship. This chapter makes use of the Drivers-Pressures-State-Impact-Responses (DPSIR) model to illustrate how urban fortification influences the socio-spatial landscape in South African cities. The model shows the need to consider urban security and fortification and their relationship to urban sustainability from a systemic viewpoint, i.e. as an integrated subsystem which is part of a larger system – the city. Finally, the chapter explores possible scenarios in which fortified spaces are an integral part of future urban environments.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Sustainable development has been defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (UNHSP 2007).
- 2.
Considering cities as socioecological systems offers a comprehensive and integrated way to investigate both the social and the environmental processes and their influence on each other in a holistic and systemic manner, broadening the understanding of urban sustainability to include a systems approach that focuses on both social and environmental systems (Bartuska and Kazimee 2006; du Plessis 2008).
- 3.
There is often an assumption that the environment analysed through the DSIR framework includes only an analysis of the relationships between the natural environment or ecosystems and socio-economic changes. The ‘environment’, however, also includes the built environment, especially related to the city as the system of analysis. Given this, the DPSIR framework has been used very effectively to analyse the sustainability of human settlements in South Africa (du Plessis and Landman 2002, 2004).
- 4.
The seven crimes include street robbery, cash-in-transit robbery, bank robbery, truck hijacking, house robberies, business robberies and car hijackings.
- 5.
The study has also indicated that individuals may choose a criminal career in preference to other opportunities available to them on the grounds that the returns from crime are obtained more quickly and are likely to be better because the work opportunities open to them are regarded as unattractive; because of the excitement, camaraderie or sense of power to be had in committing crime and being known as a criminal; and because they do not think seriously about the long-term consequences of this choice (CSVR 2007: 168).
- 6.
‘Shebeen’ is the word used in many township areas in South Africa and generally refers to informal taverns selling alcohol.
- 7.
A positive feedback loop brings about a change in the system and serves to increase the perturbation it responded to. A negative feedback loop responds to the perturbation in the sense that it reduces the effect thereof.
- 8.
A strong positive feedback loop may lead to a point where it either stabilises the system or completely destroys it.
- 9.
A study on medium-density mixed housing in South Africa, which was later repeated by a group of final year planning students, indicated that these developments facilitated opportunities for social mix through a mix of population groups, especially in projects such as Brickfields, Carr Gardens, Amalinda and Sakhasonke and to a larger extent in Thornhill and Melrose Arch. It also indicates that the type of mix may differ according to the type of project and the area in which it is located, for example, the different distribution of population groups in Amalinda and Hull Street, and the thresholds or levels of income groups targeted, for example, Thornhill and Melrose Arch.
References
Baily, N., Haworth, A., Manzi, T., Paranagamage, P., & Roberts, M. (2006). Creating and sustaining mixed income communities: A good practice guide. Coventry: Published for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation by the Chartered Institute of Housing.
Barolsky, V., & Pillay, S. (2009). A call for comparative thinking: Crime, citizenship and security in the global south. South Africa Crime Quarterly, 27, 15–21.
Bartuska, T. J., & Kazimee, B. A. (2006). Sustainable cells of urbanism: Regenerative theory and practice. In M. Jenks & N. Dempsey (Eds.), Future forms and designs for sustainable cities. Amsterdam: Architectural Press (Elsevier).
Beal, J., Crankshaw, O., & Parnell, S. (2002). Uniting a divided city: Governance and social exclusion in Johannesburg. London: Earthscan.
Berger, A. R., & Hodge, R. A. (1998). Natural change in the environment: A challenge to the pressure-state-response concept. Social Indicators Research, 44, 255–265.
Burger, J. (2009). Worrying trends: The official 2008/09 South African crime statistics. South Africa Crime Quarterly, 30, 3–11.
Butler, A. (2004). Contemporary South Africa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cozens, P. (2007). Planning, crime and urban sustainability. Sustainable Development and Planning III, 102, 187–196.
CSVR – Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation. (2007). The violent nature of crime in South Africa: A concept paper for the justice, crime prevention and security cluster. Prepared by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), Johannesburg.
Department of Community Safety Gauteng. Gauteng Safety Strategy (2006). Johannesburg, Department of Community Safety Gauteng.
Du Plessis, C. (1999). The links between crime prevention and sustainable development. Open House International, 24(1), 33–40.
du Plessis, C. (2008, September 21–25). Understanding cities as social-ecological systems. World Sustainable Building Conference – SB’08, Melbourne, Australia.
du Plessis, C., & Landman, K. (2002). Sustainability analysis of human settlements in South Africa (CSIR Report BOU/C368). Prepared for the National Department of Housing, Pretoria.
du Plessis, C., & Landman, K. (2004). An analysis of the sustainability of human settlements in South Africa’. In L. Fregolent & F. Musco (a cura di), Le trasformazioni dei paesaggi sudafricani (Archivio di Studi Urbani e Regionali, 79, pp. 139–167).
Durkheim, E. (1897). Suicide: A study in sociology. New York: Free Press.
Ehlers, L., & Tait, S. (2009). Finding the right balance: Immediate safety versus long-term social change. South Africa Crime Quarterly, 27, 23–30.
Elliott, M. (2002). The role of the DPSIR approach and conceptual models in marine environmental management: An example for offshore wind power. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 44(6), iii–vii.
Gallopin, G., Hammond, A., Raskin, P., & Swart, R. (1997). Branch points: Global scenarios and human choice (Polar Star Series Report no. 7). A resource Paper of the Global Scenario Group. Stockholm: Stockholm Environment Institute.
Goold, B., Loader, I., & Thumala, A. (2010). Consuming security?: Tools for a sociology of security consumption. Theoretical Criminology, 14(3), 3–30.
Kim, S. W., & Pridemore, W. A. (2005). Social change, institutional anomie and serious property crime in transitional Russia. British Journal of Criminology, 45, 81–97.
Kruger, T., & Landman, K. (2008). Crime and the physical environment in South Africa: Contextualising international crime prevention experiences. Built Environment, 34(1), 75–87.
Kruger, T., Landman, K., & Liebermann, S. (2001). Designing safer places: A manual for crime prevention through planning and design. Pretoria: CSIR.
Kruger, T., Liebermann, S., & Landman, K. (2002). Crime and the physical environment: Analysis and recommendations. Prepared by the CSIR for the Alexandra Urban Renewal Project.
Kruger, T., Landman, K., & Liebermann, S. (2005). A CPTED strategy for the Northwest province (CSIR Report No: CSIR/BE/ISPDS/ER/2006/0018/B). Prepared for the Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety in the North West Province
Landman, K. (1999, April). Serious about safety. Urban Planning and Environment Conference, Pretoria.
Landman, K. (2003). A national survey of gated communities in South Africa (CSIR Report. BOU/I 252). Pretoria: CSIR.
Landman, K. (2006). Who owns the roads? Privatising public space in South African cities through neighbourhood closures. GeoJournal, 66, 133–146.
Landman, K. (2007a). The storm that rocks the boat: The systemic impact of gated communities on urban sustainability. Cybergeo, 399. http://cybergeo.revues.org/11133.
Landman, K., & du Plessis, C. (2005). The impact of gated communities on urban sustainability: A difference of opinion or a matter of concern? South African Town and Regional Planning, 51(May), 16–25.
Landman, J. P., Bhorat, H., van der Berg, S., & van Aardt, C. (2003). Breaking the grip of poverty and inequality in South Africa 2004–2014: Current trends, issues and future policy options, Produced for the Ecumenical Institute of South Africa (EFSA).
Landman, K., Mmonwa, M., Matsebe G., & du Toit, J. (2009). Medium density mixed housing in South Africa: The case of Sakhasonke. Pretoria: CSIR Report
Landman, K., du Toit, J., Mmonwa, M., & Matsebe, G. (2010). Comparing seven case studies of medium density mixed housing in South Africa . Pretoria: CSIR Report.
Lemanski, C. (2006). Residential responses to fear (of crime plus) in two Cape Town suburbs: Implications for the post-apartheid city. Journal of International Development, 18(6), 787–802.
Lemanski, C., Landman, K., & Durrington, M. (2008). Divergent and similar experiences of ‘gating’ in South Africa: Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Urban Forum, 19(2), 133–158.
Liebermann, S., Landman, K., Louw, A., & Robertshaw, R. (2000). Making South Africa Safe:A manual for community based crime prevention. Pretoria: CSIR Publication BOU/E 0002.
Loader, I. (1999). Consumer culture and the commodification of policing and security. Sociology, 33(2), 373–392.
Los, M. (2002). Post-communist fear of crime and the commercialization of security. Theoretical Criminology, 6(2), 165–188.
Matteus, M., & Campuzano, F. C. (2008). The DPSIR framework applied to the integrated management of coastal areas. In R. Nneves, J. W. Baretta, & M. Matteus (Eds.), Perspectives on integrated coastal management in South America. Lisbon: IST Press.
Messner, S. F., & Rosenfeld, R. (1994). Crime and the American dream. Belmont: Wadsworth.
Mistry, D. (2004). Falling crime, rising fear – 2003. National victims of crime survey. In South Africa crime quarterly, 8. Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies.
Mohlanlana, C. (2010, March 24). Mamelodi residents say service delivery action not over. Eye Witness News, p.1.
National Crime Prevention Strategy. (1996). Prepared by and published by the Department of Safety and Security, Pretoria.
Pelser, E., Rauch, J., & Henkeman, S. (2001). DFID-SA review: Safety, security & access to justice (discussion document). Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies.
Pretorius, G. (2010, September 6). Prok sê nee, maar 2 hou vol: Bees was in klub, Beeld, p.1.
Raco, M. (2007). Securing sustainable communities. European Urban and Regional Studies, 14(4), 305–320.
Rapport, D., & Friend, A. (1979). Towards a comprehensive framework for environmental statistics: A stress–response approach. In Statistics Canada catalogue 11–510. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada.
Rekolainen, S., Kamari, J., & Hiltunen, M. (2003). A conceptual framework for identifying the need and role of models in the implementation of the water framework directive. International Journal of River Basin Management, 1(4), 347–352.
Roberts, B. (2008). Age of hope or anxiety? Dynamics of the fear of crime in South Africa. HSRC Policy Brief. Accessed online at http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Document-2718.phtml
Schönteich, M., & Louw, A. (2001, April). Crime in South Africa: A country and cities profile. ISS Paper 49. Pretoria: ISS Publication.
Shaw, M. (2000). Crime and policing in transitions: Comparative perspectives. Johannesburg: SAIIA (17).
Shaw, M. (2002). Democracy’s disorder? Crime, police and citizen responses in transitional societies. Johannesburg: SAIIA Publication.
Silver, G., & Geffen, N. (2009). Race, class and violent crime in South Africa. South Africa Crime Quarterly, 30, 35–43.
Statistics, S.A. (2011). Quarterly labour Force Survey: Quarter 3 (July to September), November. Accessed online at http://www.statssa.gov.za/news_archive/press_statements/QLFS%20Q3-2011%20Press%20statement.pdf
Svarstad, H., Petersen, L. K., Rothman, D., Siepel, H., & Watzold, F. (2008). Discursive biases of the environmental research framework DPSIR. Land Use Policy, 25, 116–125.
The White Paper on Safety and Security. (1998). Department of Safety and Security, Pretoria.
Tibaijuka, A. (2005). Urban safety: A collective challenge for sustainable human settlements development. In F. Dodds & T. Pippard (Eds.), Human & environmental security: An agenda for change. London: Earthscan.
UNHSP – United Nations Human Settlements Programme. (2007). Enhancing urban safety and security: Global report on human settlements. London: UN-HABITAT.
United Nations Environment Program. (2002). Global environmental outlook 3. London: Earthscan.
von Bondigen, T., & Turner, R. K. (2001). Science and integrated coastal management. An introduction. Berlin: Dalhen University Press.
Woodlands Lifestyle Estate. (2010). Section on security. http://www.woodlandsnet.co.za/oldwebsite/pages/security.html. Accessed on 20 Mar 2010.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Landman, K. (2011). Reconsidering Crime and Urban Fortification in South Africa. In: Ceccato, V. (eds) The Urban Fabric of Crime and Fear. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4210-9_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4210-9_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4209-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4210-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)