ancient cities

192 Crime
increasing reason for the expansion in their installation
from street corners to additional public
spaces such as shopping strips and entertainment
areas is urbanites’ uneasiness and fear of crime.
The city is characterized by high-mobility, social
and cultural diversity that increases the likelihood
of encountering strangers who differ in their
behavior from ours. Meeting the different other is
perceived as a risk, and many cities are managing
potential risks through the installation of CCTVs.
Urban surveillance influences our public behaviors:
Knowing that our presence, behaviors, and
faces are being recorded is an inducement to selfcontrol.
Surveillance devices installed originally
to improve transportation systems are also being
used for coercive purposes, becoming more and
more part of the crime-fighting equation. Police
departments are using these data to identify suspects
and track their movements, thereby supporting
crime-solving efforts.
The fear of crime has led to the development of
gated communities in many countries. Gated communities
are residential areas with restricted access
designed to privatize normally public spaces.
Containing controlled entrances and walls and
fences, gated communities create a border for ingroup
members, excluding access to out-group
members. These residential areas are spreading in
different countries and are reported in increasing
numbers in the United States, Argentina, Brazil,
Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. In each country they
are slightly different, but the common theme is to
exclude other ethnic, national, and cultural groups
from certain residential areas. In the literature,
four different types of gated communities have
been described:
1. Lifestyle communities provide separation for
leisure activities and the amenities that are part
of community life. This type includes retirement
and leisure communities that are designed for
residents who engage in a wide variety of
activities close to their own homes.
2. Elite and upper-middle-class communities are
primarily occupied by the rich and wealthy.
These communities focus on exclusion
according to social status and on image and
security. They are becoming common not only
in developed countries like the United States
and the United Kingdom, but also in
less-developed countries like Mexico, Brazil,
and Argentina.
3. Security zone communities differ from the other
types in that they are not the result of urban
planning but of the activities of their residents.
Residents mark the neighborhood boundaries
and restrict access to traffic and individuals that
are perceived as bringing crime to the
community.
4. Foreign gated communities are a new type of
gated community that is associated with
economic globalization that has created a
demand for foreign workers in culturally
homogenous and traditional countries. These
are communities that are built to allow foreign
workers to continue their lifestyle and at the
same time separate them from the host society.
These are common in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain,
and recently in China.
Urban crime and the perception of urban insecurity
have been reflected in attempts to formulate
exclusionary policies, increasing urban surveillance
and the separation of the wealthy from other
urban residents.
Consequences of Globalization
Global processes have facilitated human trafficking.
Since the fall of the former Soviet Union,
women from impoverished countries of the eastern
block have joined the sex industry in Western
Europe, the Middle East, and North America. It is
estimated that women from these countries are in
prostitution in more than 50 countries. In cities in
these countries, street prostitution has increased,
sex districts have developed, and land use has
changed from residential to sex-related commercial
activities (sex shops, massage parlors, and bars). In
Southeast Asia the development of the tourist
industry combined with rural impoverishment and
rapid migration to the cities led to the development
of a sex tourist industry and the development of
urban sex districts. Street prostitution takes over
the street and turns urban communities into unsafe
places as women are harassed, drug trafficking
increases, and health problems abound.
Crime and enforcement have other impacts upon
urban neighborhoods. Enforcement of various drug