subtle interventions - administrative fragmentation of the metropolis - real crime - Vandalism and Economics - urban deser- tification – riots and dualization

Roughness, violence, brutality, seediness, ghettoization– all these are words that we associate much more readily with the city than with a suburb or the bucolic countryside. It seems even drug related crime develops a different charac- ter depending on whether it is in the city or the suburb. As the NYTimes reported in early July, identity theft is the crime of choice for meth addicts and both are flourishing in suburban regions of the US. In contrast crack cocaine or heroin dealers, are supported by heavily armed gangs usually set up in higher density urban zones. These high density areas are suited to ‘urban’ crimes like, prostitution, carjacking and robbery. So the suburban habitat seems perfectly suited for the sleepless meth- addict roaming through the internet, garbage cans and outdoor mailboxes in a quest to gather identities, while the density and proximity of a city is more fertile soil for the impulsiveness and raw brutally that is typical for crack and cocaine criminality.

The entanglements of brutality and urbanism are even more extensive than we had anticipated when announcing our call for submissions this January. The contributions we publish in this issue do a great job describing some of the most salient linkages between urban life and violence.

Language: English