About this Research Topic

Background

Insecurity and violence across the world remain high and affect people to various degrees, but the poor are most severely affected. The establishment of inclusive democratic systems in post-colonies has not reduced intrasocietal conflicts, as racial and class divisions still play a huge role both in people’s minds and on the ground. Two interconnected aspects of the democratization process frame this Research Topic. First, the legacies of the global colonial-apartheid rule have continued to play a lethal role in shaping and reshaping the securityscapes of many human settlements and are more pronounced in low-income communities; particularly in the informal settlements where mostly African people are forced to reside. Second, xenophobia and violence present another dimension of urban insecurity for those who are considered ‘illegal’ immigrants in post-colonies. The situated everyday experiences of the poor and socially marginalized as they strategize, navigate, adapt to, and actively shape their securityscapes are largely ignored by researchers.

The purpose of this Research Topic is to bring together high-quality articles that draw from various conceptual and theoretical understandings of urban (in)security experiences, practices, and the implications for the incorporation of social justice in urban planning in post-colonial settings in the Global South. The authors are expected to clarify the meanings they attach to the key concepts in their paper including urban in(security), social justice, and the postcolonial, demonstrating their awareness of and positionality vis-à-vis current debates on these ideas.

The themes that we would like the contributors to focus on are:

Theorizing human settlements and urban (in)security in post-colonies:

Articles should theoretically and conceptually unpack the issue of human settlements and urban (in)security in post-colonies. The main questions the articles should engage with are:

(1) What do we know currently about the relationship between human settlements and urban (in)security in post-colonies?
(2) Who is studying this topic and what are the existing gaps?

Reconfigured securityscapes in post-colonies:

We are looking for articles that are going to demonstrate experiences of (in)security in low-income communities. The articles should demonstrate how low-income communities reconfigure their securityscapes in practice.

Urban violence that ‘keeps’ ‘peace’?:

Communities sometimes maintain ‘peace’ through horrible violence. Sometimes when communities experience threats to their lives, they resolve and are forced to use violence to maintain ‘peace’. Can we assume then that the presence of violence in low-income communities makes people unsafe, or does it do the opposite? For all the violence and horror present in post colonies, how possible that urban violence ‘keeps’ whatever ‘peace’ there is in low-income communities?

Metamorphosis of charitable urban violence in post-colonies:

The articles should uncover and outline how charitable violence plays out from a community level to international aid or donors. The relationship between ‘the caregivers’ and ‘violence-givers’ at all levels of society must be explored.

Planning of human settlements: overlaying a layout that destroys the security strategies employed by residents:

Through its planning decisions and processes, the post-colonial governments continue to impose or overlay subdivision plans that ignore and destroys the fabric and social structures of low-income communities. We are looking for articles that will interrogate the issue of the constant threat of evictions imposed by the post-colonial governments. What strategies do low-income communities employ to access security of tenure under the constant threat of eviction?

Keywords: Urban (in)security, Social justice, Urban violence, Human settlements, Post-colonies

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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