TRYGG STAD - Chalmers tekniska högskola

to have failed and the new agenda is to ensure that all citizenstake responsibility for themselves and for others. The policeno longer has the monopoly on crime prevention. This meansthat the citizens could have more influence over whichmeasures that will be implemented now and how the socialcontrol should work, but it also means that a market for safetyand crime prevention has rapidly emerged, ranging fromsecurity locks, and fences to dwellings in so-called ‘gatedcommunities’.Mainly two directions can be found within crime preventiveurban planning – one supporting the open urban design,the other supporting enclosed space that supposedly wouldlead to increased social control. Openness and closenesscould also be discussed in terms of attitudes towardsstrangers, that is whether strangers are regarded as a threat ora reason to feel safe. Do we want to exclude or include thestranger? Here the ideas of urban sociologists Lyn Loflandand Richard Sennett are used to demonstrate how strangers,anonymity and conflicts could be perceived as positive (andunavoidable) aspects of urban life. In contrast, the researchersbehind Fixing broken windows represent the opposite view inwhich disorder and anonymity is the problem of urban life. Iargue that both these viewpoints are simplifying the situationand lack understanding of power relations. In some respectswe all are strangers, but at the same time some people areregarded as more strange than others according to socialnorms in society in general or in a specific place; i.e. to be thewrong person in the wrong place at a certain time of the day.Whom is a stranger differs in different societies and cultures.According to sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, the strangerprovoke us by his/hers dependence and he/she makes ourlives more complicated. Bauman argues that the degree ofdislike for strangers is related to the degree of power one hasover her/his own life. People with sufficient economicresources and control over their own lifes tend to be moreopen to strangers, and tend to enjoy the ‘exoticism’ thatcomes with these encounters when the choice to when andwhere to meet the strangers are up to them.Publications by the Swedish Council for Crime Preventiongenerally seems to take for granted that the gathering ofstrangers by definition is a problem. The National Board ofHousing, Building and Planning argues that the lack ofidentity amongst urban citizens makes people passive, lost,feeling alone and strange. The discussion on fear as aexpression of moral panic is a contrasting discourse. The fearof the other creates a defensive urbanism argues for examplearchitect Nan Ellin, and urban sociologist Mike Davis de-277