Is it possible to build city in high violence settings? Analytical frameworks developed by criminology in Latin America have not taken into account contexts of high violence. The objective of this article is to characterize the territorial dynamics of the criminality, violence and insecurity phenomena, and their connection with the process of public space ownership. The citizens’ voice, praised starting from surveys, interviews and focus group, calls for more city. The public space is a place of exchange and security. This includes not only safe transport spaces, but also recreation, rest and even artistic innovation spaces. Urban renewal and public space importance is emphasized in the document, recognizing a smaller probability of gentrification initiatives development, which require investment and consolidation of the symbolic and territorial identity. In spite of the homicides, extortions and neglect by the government, the citizens seem to recognize the substantial issue of the community life: the need of being citizens, instead of being citizens of spaces affected by the precariousness.

Migration has been defined as the threatening other in Latin America; Chile is no exception. Based on the conceptualization of the imagined community, this article analyzes the importance and characteristics of press media coverage on migration and punitive populism in the framework of the Presidential election of 2017 in Chile. A random sample of all the informative pieces of the two main newspapers throughout 2017 was analyzed. Migration has become a topic of national debate. The media show a political discourse focused on punitive populism, the unnecessary generalization of stigmatizing images, and the consolidation of a metaphor that links migration with danger, mainly criminality. The more chronic-oriented than analysis-oriented characteristic of the coverage makes it possible to emphasize in the threatening and politically profitable images. Possibly trying to protect that community that the political discourse constantly highlights. 

En la última década la prevención del delito se ha colocado en el debate académico y político de seguridad en América Latina. El involucramiento de la comunidad en este tipo de iniciativas ha tenido especial énfasis, sin embargo, las mismas han sido enfrentadas de forma confusa. Esta situación permite la consolidación de un discurso autoritario sobre la delincuencia y, a su vez, la aparición de procesos negativos como los linchamientos de supuestos delincuentes, actos que se presentan en la mayoría de países latinoamericanos. En este marco, el presente artículo define una aproximación conceptual a la participación comunitaria del delito, rescatando algunas prácticas prometedoras, así como identificando los principales desafíos pendientes para lograr una perspectiva integral y efectiva en la disminución de la violencia y la delincuencia. 

Insecurity has been directly linked to the increasing levels of citizens' mistrust particularly of police institutions. For this reason, the objective in this article is contributing to the discussion in order to understand the Chile's special situation with respect to these variables in the face of the high levels of insecurity and/or citizen fear observed; but, notwithstanding this, the greater average levels of confidence placed in their main police institution, the "Carabineros". The methodology used from the interpretative paradigm is of a qualitative type, with interviews and focal groups carried out in the city of Santiago at the end of 2008. In the first place, the complexity of giving an answer to the phenomenon is evidenced, and a relationship was found between interpersonal confidence and the rating of the police work as a way of understanding institutional trust; these variables act separately without being it possible to determine their individual specificity. However, they let understand the contradiction lying in the high confidence placed on the Carabineros and the impression of poor security coming from a feeling of helplessness or low interpersonal confidence and the perception of certain inequality in police work depending on social strata. This last finding explains the need to delve deeper into police evaluation criteria, and concentrate resources on the most disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.