Written by Jesús Torres
Socio-spatial segregation has been experienced in most cities around the world, mainly due to racial issues.
Creating livable settlements can bring problems from its foundation, which over time can trigger problems for the entire community. A city that, from its starting point, has privileged a certain socio-economic or racial group over another with access to resources and quality infrastructure creates a wider gap between classes, genders, and races.
A city that does not encounter these foundational problems tends to generate a population with access to democratized opportunities, which is reflected in higher levels of schooling among its inhabitants, lower levels of perceived insecurity, and better quality of life.
To talk about insecurity, crime levels, and urbanism, this time we will talk to our friend Macarena Rau Vargas.
Born and raised in Santiago de Chile, with dual nationality: Chilean and German, Macarena has a degree in Architecture from Universidad de Chile and has a specialization in CPTED methodology (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) through the ICA (International CPTED Association), an association that she currently leads.
We had a very nice chat and she is very excited to share her ideas with the audience.
Jesús Torres: Thank you for being with us tonight.
Macarena Rau Vargas: Thank you very much for inviting me.
JT: Macarena, what is urbanism?
MRV: Good question. Urbanism is the discipline that allows us to understand the relationships of all the social, environmental and urban variables of the city. Urbanism enables me to understand the dynamics that are constantly changing. I always see the city as a living organism. Crime, which is my specialty, I see it as an urban pathology, as if this living organism, the city, had become ill as if it had lost its balance. That is my approach from my specialty, which is Urban Criminology.
JT: Is there really a correlation between urban planning and the security problems we experience in cities?
MRV: There is a lot of scientific evidence that shows this correlation in different cities around the world. This is reflected, statistically, not only with more or less crime, but also with socio-spatial segregation. Another urban phenomenon that has to do with situations of poor distribution of wealth has to do with urban planning.
JT: So an urban planner can help detect and attack systemic problems such as segregation, crime and other environmental problems?
MRV: As urban planners, the thesis we defend, is that an appropriate urban design, using CPTED methodology, can inhibit the spatial location of the crime and the perception of insecurity in the city.
JT: CPTED methodology. What does it mean?
MRV: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. It is a methodology developed more than 50 years ago in North America and is currently promoted by ICA (International CPTED Association), an association that is present in 40 countries around the world and is constantly being updated to meet current global standards. It is a living methodology because it is constantly evolving, and based on scientific evidence.
JT: You have a position in ICA, don't you?
MRV: I am the president of the association worldwide.
JT: Fabulous!
MRV: Thank you (laughs). I forgot to mention that it is a Canadian NGO. Last year ICA celebrated 25 years since its founding.
JT: Awesome, congratulations to the organization! Now, could you tell us what was your first approach to your specialty in Urban Criminology?
MRV: I feel that I was born an architect and urban planner. Since I was a child I always played making cities. My father realized that it was better to give me Legos because I never played with anything else. It was always very clear to me that I wanted to do this because I didn't just make buildings, I made cities. I didn't question it. When I entered university the only career I applied for was Architecture.
When I was in college I realized that it is a very demanding and exciting career: there are many nights without rest and without being able to sleep. During my fourth year I began to have a reflection on the neighborhoods where there was crime, where there was more insecurity. I wondered if there was any research in the world that talked about this, and that's where I met an urban journalist: Jane Jacobs.
MRV: She wrote "Life and Death of the Great American Cities", and since then I have not separated my vision of the relationship between security and urbanism.
JT: You studied at the University of Chile, are you Chilean?
MRV: Chilean and German. Born, raised and living in Santiago de Chile.
JT: Did the growth that the Chilean capital experienced during the second half of the 20th century have any impact on the present of your professional reality?
MRV: I think so. Universidad de Chile is the university of contrasts. I had classmates from all the districts of the capital, as well as teachers. The architect Alberto Gurovich taught me that the city is discovered by walking, and to this day I continue to put it into practice. This way of getting to know the city allowed me to observe and understand the economic inequalities that the city experienced.
JT: Just as you are now talking about getting around and getting to know your city by walking, what can you tell me about the concept of "democratization of cities"?
MRV: It is fundamental. It is an urgency in the urban academic debate, and in the planning of the city. Urban planning is a tool to level the playing field for citizens. We as urban planners can generate segregation if we are ignorant, or we can be game-changers and level the competitive playing field for all.
Professional ethics and awareness are very important when implementing our knowledge. We can generate great changes in the quality of life of our fellow citizens.
JT: Just talking about creating democratized cities, it is worth analyzing our work and realizing that there are times when we focus on making cities for people of a certain social level, and other times only on a certain type of displacement.
MRV: Universal accessibility is a way of approaching urban planning. If a person feels safe moving around the city, the overall perception will improve. The city must be accessible to all, we cannot displace any type of city user with socio-environmental barriers that cannot allow them to fully integrate into the community.
By not taking into account people with alternative forms of displacement becomes a person vulnerable to crime. If a person in a wheelchair, for example, cannot escape from a dangerous situation because there are urban barriers, we are putting an extra burden on a possible victim at a crime scene.
JT: It's interesting that we talk about this because it opens up the conversation to touch on issues like generating public policy. When I talk about these issues with friends, most of them respond with: what can I do to change it? A lot, I reply. A lot can be done to change our material context, but most of them don't know about these tools. What can we do, as citizens, to generate long-term changes in our cities?
MRV: Citizens can train their authorities. I have seen in the countries where I have worked that neighbors teach mayors how to do government on the ground, and how to improve the creation of public policy. I believe in the model where the state learns from the grassroots. A base with innate knowledge and wisdom, or as we call it from the CPTED methodology: native expert.
MRV: I worked on a large project in Villa Andes del Sur, in Santiago, Chile, where the leader told us that it took more than ten years to get the financing to create the site where the neighborhood meetings are held. During all that time they struggled and never gave up. The site was inaugurated in June 2022 and the mayor attended the party created by the neighbors. This is a lesson from the grassroots, from the neighbors, to the authorities. It goes beyond a political period, this lasted ten years, and political periods usually last four years.
JT: Now I want to make a parenthesis.
We know that you are the president of ICA. I would like you to tell me about your work within the association.
MRV: I finished studying architecture at Universidad de Chile and emigrated to Canada to train at CPTED, all this from the beginning of the year 2000 to 2004. I became a member of ICA, being the first Spanish-speaking member. Time passed and I was asked to be the representative for Hispanic America, so I started being the Director of Latin America, and then, in 2012, I was appointed world vice president. In 2017 I was elected as president of the association. I believe that a good leader motivates and spreads a positive spirit to all his or her teams. I lead the teams working at ICA with a vision for the future. ICA has 326 active members in 40 countries around the world, where architects, urban planners, and criminologists work.
JT: What don't you like so much about your work?
MRV: Having to deal with counterparts who have no social conscience. That's what hurts me the most. But I always try to find a point of balance.
JT: How do you solve scenarios where you can't work as smoothly as you would like?
MRV: Good dialogue leads to better results. Looking for a plan B is another option, but I always pursue dialoguing and working as a team.
JT: What do you enjoy most about your work?
MRV: Seeing when communities become empowered and begin processes of healing and synergy. I am very happy with that because they become self-sustaining because they learn CPTED.
JT: Can you tell me about the last project in which you practiced?
MRV: We have been working in Villa Andes del Sur in Chile for 2 years. The mayor asked us to help older adults affected with post-COVID stress. They were depressed and in distress. We have detected with the CPTED methodology what problems were affecting the mental health of older adults and now we are working with them on a community mural, training the ladies and gentlemen. The mural will be placed in front of the community sports field.
Another project that I really like, which we are working on with the governor of Santiago de Chile, Claudio Orrego, is to create two urban intermodal transportation stations where prostitution and assaults are common. We are developing safe routes for vulnerable groups of people, and thus decreasing the perception of insecurity among citizens.
These are the last two projects I have worked on, and both motivate me and I like them very much.
JT: Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I would like to know if you could share a few words for the audience.
MRV: I hope that whatever career path you take, it is something that you really enjoy. It has to be something they are passionate about, and that they have a good time doing it. If they get to the combination where their hobby is also their job, that would be great for me. I play every day and enjoy all my projects. I hope you can achieve that formula of virtuous success, having passion for what you do while helping others.