Paper short abstract:

From 2 ethnographic studies conducted in Porto, we explore how fear of crime may influence the interactions of public life. Either in the anonymity of the street, or in relations of proximity developed in a community context, insecurity tends to be reflected in the most ordinary aspects of life.

Paper long abstract:

Fear of crime dwells and feeds on social relations. In order to examine how it determines movements of approach and retraction in public life, we proceed to analyze and merge two ethnographic records collected in Porto: one focused in relations between strangers, mostly those that take place in the anonymity of the street, where interactions contain a greater potential for suspicion and mistrust; other obtained in a community - the neighbourhood of Cerco - settled in a sensitive area in the eastern part of town, where relationships between proximity and danger can be set. The normative city (or the street perspective) defines some practices, enacted to organize daily life in an urban environment perceived as predatory. These practices are rooted on several cognitive city maps and define specific security measures, particular shapes of threat, and finally draw social boundaries. From the relegated city (or the community perspective) we explore the relationship between this community and the street - these practices also being based on maps, measures, figures and boundaries, now performed by those who, immediately before, were the threat itself. In either case, the fear of crime tends to be reflected in the more ordinary and mundane aspects of existence.