Placial-Discursive Topologies of Violence: Volunteered Geographic Information and the Reproduction of Violent Places in Recife, Brazil

Abstract

Knowledge and experiences of violence transform the ways in which individuals perceive the urban landscape, construct and reproduce (un)safety, and make everyday decisions regarding mobility and the use of space. This knowledge and these experiences are placially anchored and are shaped by everyday regionalisations. In the context of interpersonal violence in Recife, Brazil, we examine the ways in which volunteered geographic information (VGI), formal and informal information exchange networks, and individual experience contribute to the reproduction of violent spaces. During interviews with civilian residents and police officers, we explore the knowledge and information flows and their spatial anchorings before and after presenting informants with a VGI-based map of firearms violence. Following coding, interviews were also analysed using a novel, semiautomated text mining algorithm to produce context-sensitive co-occurrence graphs of key arguments within participant narratives. The results indicate strong differences in the placial anchorings between police officers and civilians, and highlight key dynamics in the flows of VGI amongst residents and local news organisations, as well as through social media. These forms of placial knowledge exchange are in constant negotiation with individuals’ perceptions and experiences of the study area and reflect cognitive-discursive reproductions of everyday geographies of (un)safety.

Geographical Research in the Digital Humanities

“…The proposed process model has been evaluated in two recent publications (Moura de Souza et al 2022 and. This allows for an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of our approach.…”

“…If we consider the Digital Humanities less as a transdisciplinary paradigm and more in terms of its methodological diversity and (functional) epistemological pluralism, new empirical techniques for knowledge production arrive at researchers' disposal. For example, semiautomated text processing techniques provide means for theory-informed, yet thoroughly applied social science (e.g., Kremer & Walker 2023;Moura de Souza et al 2022). In established critical social sciences practice, one critically examines the source of an artefact, seeking to infer or divinate the source's motivations and biases, considering ways in which these might affect the artefact itself; for example, one might assert that public health organisations were motivated to freely and openly distribute COVID-19 incidence data as part of a strategy to inform the public about the risks of contracting the virus.…”

National Map of Security Threats as a Citizen Involvement Tool for Planning Safer Urban Public Spaces

“…Formal and informal information exchange networks, including VGIs based on individual risk experiences, allow the mapping of potentially dangerous areas. This has an impact on day-to-day decisions regarding the visits to and general use of such spaces (Moura de Souza et al, 2022). Geospatial mapping technologies can also be used to develop statistical data to identify areas that are predisposed to generating threats-hot spots and hotlines.…”