The Politics of Violence and Urbanism

Abstract

This article provides the theoretical framing for the discussion on the violence and urbanism in Medellín, drawing on work from geography, urban studies, political science, and regionally specific explorations of violence in Latin American cities. Theories of violence have tended to situate the problem either with the individual, in terms of criminal pathology, or with structural inequality. This paper proposes a more dynamic analysis of violence as a process, with a focus on how violence becomes a means to attain and retain power, and how violence enters into the “common sense” of political and social life. This framework can offer an analysis of how places become violent, how violence is related to urban politics and geography, and, as may be the case in Medellín, how transformations in political processes may address the root causes of violence.