The comparative research ‘Reducing Boundaries–Understanding Exclusion Through Security Defen-sive Systems in Wealthy Urban Areas. Porto Alegre, Brussels, Veneto Region’ took place between 2014 and 2017 under the EU-funded program FP7-PEOPLE under the Marie Curie Interna-tional Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES), led by Università IUAV di Venezia (Italy) and Latitude Plat-form (Belgium) in collaboration with the Faculty of Law and Criminology of La Salle University (Unilasalle, Brazil).
The 5th of October Metrolab.brussels will host the International seminar & Book launch at Metrolab Studio from 14h00.
The comparative research ‘Reducing Boundaries–Understanding Exclusion Through Security Defen-sive Systems in Wealthy Urban Areas. Porto Alegre, Brussels, Veneto Region’ took place between 2014 and 2017 under the EU-funded program FP7-PEOPLE under the Marie Curie Interna-tional Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES), led by Università IUAV di Venezia (Italy) and Latitude Plat-form (Belgium) in collaboration with the Faculty of Law and Criminology of La Salle University (Unilasalle, Brazil). The investigation originated from the observation of ‘the rise of the security paradigm as a framework for organizing contemporary social life’ (Daniel Goldstein). This leading paradigm is changing the aesthetics of cities, their physical space, and the everyday life of their inhabitants, affirming class differences and, in certain cases, leading to the construction of a ‘visual landscape of fear’. ‘Social aesthetics’ can create and strengthen class-identity barriers due to the positions of wealthy groups and the way the upper classes represent themselves is becoming increasingly deeply entangled with the idea of risk and safety. Moreover, expanding strategies and interventions for securing private and public spaces, which range from spatial segregation (e.g. gated communities) to controlling access, the use of road bollards, the installation of closed-circuit television system, and other techniques of crime prevention through environmental design, are also emerging in European cities. The research ‘Reducing Boundaries’ aimed at studying the defensive spaces and security devices in the main case study of Porto Alegre, understanding the socio-political dy-namics that led to their production, and comparing them with the contexts of Brussels and the Veneto region. The goal of the investigation has been to highlight how a sense of ‘safety’ and ‘se-curity’ is perceived, produced, and reproduced by the upper classes and how it modifies the urban territory.
The research Reducing Boundaries leading to these results has received funding form the People Program (Marie Curie Action) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IRSES under REA grant agreement n°612063 Partners: University Iuav of Venice Latitude – Platform for Urban Research and Design Universidade La Salle Canoas-RS
The seminar aims at discussing the main results of the research “Reducing Boundaries” achieved by the three multidisciplinary groups of investigators from Unilasalle, Latitude and Iuav. Given the focus on the case study of Porto Alegre, three speakers from Unilasalle and UFRGS will offer an overview on the Brazilian context, whereas the representatives of Latitude and Iuav will present their specific angle, methodology and output. Moreover, the screening of the documentary “Na Bolha” (the bubble, 2016) produced by Latitude on the issue of security and gated communities in Porto Alegre, will bring different voices from the filed. Finally, the event will be concluded by the launch of the book “Reducing Boundaries” (Mimesis, 2017), that collects a series of written and visual essays prodcued by the researchers involved in the investigation.
Program
14:00 - Welcoming - Introduction
14:20 - Daniel Achutti - Unilasalle | Team leader RB / Head of the School of Law and Professor of the Master’s Degree in Law and Fiammetta Bonfigli - Unilasalle | Researcher RB / Post-doc researcher in Law and Society
14:40 - Eduardo Georjão Fernandes - UFRGS | PhD candidate in Sociology
15:00 - Lucas Melgaço - VUB | Assistant Professor at the Department of Criminology
15:20 - Q&A
coffee break
16:00 - documentary screening “Na Bolha” by Latitude Platform
16:50 - Emanuela Bonini Lessing - IUAV | Research Coordinator RB / Assistant Professor in Communication Design
17:10 - Fabio Vanin - Latitude / VUB | Team leader RB / co-director Latitude and Assistant Professor in Landscape Urbanism STER
17:40 - open discussion
18:00 - book launch “Reducing Boundaries”
18:30 - drinks
