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Controlling risks in the safe city: The rise of pre-emptive practices in law enforcement, public surveillance and mental health and addiction care (1970–2020)

Author

Listed:
  • Wim de Jong

    (Open Universiteit, the Netherlands)

  • Litska Strikwerda

    (Open Universiteit, the Netherlands)

Abstract

This article describes pre-emptive practices in law enforcement, public surveillance and mental health and addiction care in the Dutch city Amersfoort and the Netherlands in general between 1970 and 2020. These developments are driven by top-down as well as bottom-up interactions on an urban level. The development of this ‘preventive gaze’, though intensified by 9/11, has deeper origins in the urban crisis: the struggle against communal crime and the heroin epidemic in circumstances of austerity encouraged a shift from post-hoc repression to prevention of public nuisance. This shift is analysed in light of the concepts of the risk society, the culture of control and the Disneyisation of inner cities, and its legal and moral implications are assessed. Aiming at unknown future risks, the ‘precautionary culture’ itself risks encroaching on the freedoms of citizens, ultimately making cities less safe.

Suggested Citation

  • Wim de Jong & Litska Strikwerda, 2021. "Controlling risks in the safe city: The rise of pre-emptive practices in law enforcement, public surveillance and mental health and addiction care (1970–2020)," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(12), pages 2514-2530, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:58:y:2021:i:12:p:2514-2530
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098020952669
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paz-Fuchs, Amir, 2008. "Welfare to Work: Conditional Rights in Social Policy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199237418.
    2. Jason Hackworth, 2019. "Urban crisis as conservative bonding capital," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 53-65, January.
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