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Residential responses to fear (of crime plus) in two Cape Town suburbs: implications for the post‐apartheid city
Author(s) -
Lemanski Charlotte
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of international development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.533
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1099-1328
pISSN - 0954-1748
DOI - 10.1002/jid.1314
Subject(s) - fear of crime , cape , crime prevention , criminology , sociology , political science , economic growth , socioeconomics , law , economics
This article addresses citizens' physical and emotional responses to fear (of crime plus) in post‐apartheid urban South Africa. Using primary research undertaken in two Cape Town residential suburbs, the impact of fear on citizens' lifestyle choices is demonstrated. In the first suburb the response to fear manifests in the immense physical security of a gated community, while residents of the second suburb have created an ‘Improvement District’ in order to ‘upgrade’ their residential area. Although markedly different responses to crime (and its associated fear), citizen responses in both suburbs focus on displacing both crime and individuals elsewhere, predominately into socio‐economically weaker areas. Both gated communities and improvement districts also create exclusionary spaces that thwart the post‐apartheid drive for integration and desegregation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.