ABSTRACT
Urban violence is a serious development concern, especially in cities in the South where rapid urbanisation and high rates of poverty and inequality result in very bad living conditions for the majority of urban residents. Violence and violent crime have reached disturbingly high levels in countries like South Africa, Colombia and Brazil and in cities like Nairobi and Lagos. This chapter concerns the application of informal settlement upgrading as a violence prevention tool, one has to think about Defensible Space theory in relation to informal settlements. The first issue of concern is that of 'ownership', even symbolic, and residential appropriation of space and how to accomplish this in a context of tenure insecurity or temporality, and the absence of a feeling of belonging, which is very characteristic of informal areas. Another issue, specifically in relation to Defensive Space theory, is how highly insecure/violent spaces impact on residential appropriation of neighbourhoods.
