Fear of crime is one of the most important problems in our cities, even in low-crime rate areas. The aim of this paper is to provide evidence of the issues involved in the perceived risk of victimization and fear of crime in these contexts using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) technique. Five hundred and seventyone people living in a working-class neighborhood of Barcelona answered a 45-item questionnaire including the following 7 constructs: perception of insecurity, previous threat experiences, social representations of insecurity, personal control and coping skills, potential aggressors, urban identity, and perceived environmental quality. Findings confirm the theoretical model, in which fear of crime is structurally related to: a) environmental features, b) personal variables, and c) social representation of unsafe places. In addition, we found that the role of social aspects is as important as that of environmental and psychological ones. Residential satisfaction and urban social identity appear as relevant variables

This paper aims to assess gender differences in the usage of public open spaces (POS), as an everyday context. Forty POS in the city of Barcelona were studied over 3 months using systematic observation. To objectively measure park use, an observational instrument (EXOdES) was purposely designed combining a field format and several category systems. The instrument facilitated the record of configurations or co-occurrences of codes from different dimensions (i.g., time of day, age, race/ethnicity, activity setting, activity, and presence of vehicles), providing contextually rich data of more than 35,000 individuals and groups and the setting in which the activity occurs. Although a similar overall proportion of males and females were found using POS (55 vs. 45%), important differences by gender were found between people being alone (66 vs. 34%), and groups (53 vs. 47%). To identify regular patterns in the way that men and women use public parks, information on more than 18,000 groups of people was analyzed as a global data set. A multievent sequential analysis was performed considering gender composition as the given behaviors (i.e., groups of males, females, and gendered mixed). Thus, polar coordinates analysis was also performed, because it is a suitable reduction data technique in studies with a broad observational instrument and a large database. Results show important gendered and cultural differences in POS use. Women tend to reproduce traditional gender role, being often more engaged in care functions with children and elders rather than in any other activity or with people of their same age group. Of particular concern is the gap on park use observed in women of ethnic minority groups. Assessing specific group needs on park use is particularly relevant attending to their multiple health and social benefits.

El presente trabajo describe y analiza las dimensiones simbólicas del espacio a partir de la definición conceptual de espacio simbólico urbano. Se enfatizan especialmente las implicaciones del concepto en los procesos de identidad social asociada al entorno, así como la necesidad de contemplar los aspectos simbólicos en el análisis de los entornos urbanos y sus implicaciones metodológicas. Asimismo se presenta una investigación empírica centrada en un barrio de Barcelona a partir de una triple aproximación: socio-histórica (análisis documental), cuantitativa (encuesta y análisis estadístico) y cualitativa (grupos de discusión y análisis de contenido). Los resultados muestran la relevancia del barrio en la configuración de la identidad social y el papel de determinados espacios en la configuración y mantenimiento de dicha identidad.

Socio-cultural approaches to fear of crime have suggested that responses to questionnaires may channel broader social attitudes towards other culturally-related topics which also shape the public meaning of ‘crime’, such as immigration. Building on this idea, this article uses a discourse analytic framework to examine how xeno-racist ideas, claims and positions are metonymically worked through everyday opinions about ‘urban insecurity’ as a crime-related construct. The analysis of open-ended interviews with ordinary citizens in Barcelona shows that the position of a ‘threatening Other’, typically afforded by the insecurity narrative, is pervasively constructed in xeno-racial terms, whether explicitly or by implication, but is rhetorically rejected on the narrative grounds of its alleged criminal acts. This xeno-racial version of the criminalized Other is itself managed in interaction as a sensitive topic through a set of deracialization strategies that displace rejection from the language of immigration towards culturally contiguous languages of incivilities, cultural differences and socioeconomic disadvantage. The article deepens the ideological versatility of discourses that subtly warrant the structural privilege of ‘natives’ vis-a-vis ‘immigrants’, thereby legitimizing a tenacious system of native supremacy.