Tatiana Lysova
Tatiana finished her BA in Political sciences in 2013 and MA in Sociology in 2015 at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. In her MA thesis “Mechanisms of Interaction between State Bodies and NGOs Working with Homeless People (the Case of Moscow)”, Tatiana focused on formal and informal interactions between local government and grass-root organizations to deal with the problem of homelessness in Moscow.
After graduation, Tatiana joined one of the leading Russian non-profit research bodies – Levada Centre. There she primarily studied the living standards in Russian society. Additionally, she was involved in several research projects ranging from workforce demand to digital inequality.
From 2018 until 2022, Tatiana was working on her PhD project, “The Problematisation of Urban Insecurity and Video Surveillance as a Solution in Budapest (Hungary) and Milan (Italy)”, exploring how various actors construct urban insecurity in the cities and whether video surveillance might contribute to tackling the problem. She wrote her thesis at the University of Milan-Bicocca under the supervision of Sonia Stefanizzi and Tünde A. Barabás. Upon the defence of her thesis, Tatiana has been working in the research project exploring factors contributing to turning to usury in Italy at the Unimib.
Tatiana’s general research interests are urban insecurity, crime, technologies’ adaptation and acceptance, video surveillance, surveillance studies, and Foucault studies.
Supervisors: Sonia Stefanizzi (Unimib), Marina Krasilnikova (Levada Centre), and Victoria Antonova (NRU HSE)
After graduation, Tatiana joined one of the leading Russian non-profit research bodies – Levada Centre. There she primarily studied the living standards in Russian society. Additionally, she was involved in several research projects ranging from workforce demand to digital inequality.
From 2018 until 2022, Tatiana was working on her PhD project, “The Problematisation of Urban Insecurity and Video Surveillance as a Solution in Budapest (Hungary) and Milan (Italy)”, exploring how various actors construct urban insecurity in the cities and whether video surveillance might contribute to tackling the problem. She wrote her thesis at the University of Milan-Bicocca under the supervision of Sonia Stefanizzi and Tünde A. Barabás. Upon the defence of her thesis, Tatiana has been working in the research project exploring factors contributing to turning to usury in Italy at the Unimib.
Tatiana’s general research interests are urban insecurity, crime, technologies’ adaptation and acceptance, video surveillance, surveillance studies, and Foucault studies.
Supervisors: Sonia Stefanizzi (Unimib), Marina Krasilnikova (Levada Centre), and Victoria Antonova (NRU HSE)
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Additionally, due to the political change, the redistribution of the previously exclusively central state’s responsibilities to the local authorities and grass-root organizations happened. So, the local inhabitants depend on the local authorities and NGOs to provide the required level of protection from (sometimes only perceived) criminal and violence threats (Sampson, 2011).
The research studying the influence of CCTV on the feeling of штsecurity in cities provides contradictory conclusions (Lorenc et al., 2013). This paper contributes to the existing scholarly discussion by studying the perspective of people who are directly involved in tackling the issue at the local level: NGOs aimed at enhancing urban security in Milan and Budapest. These organizations deal with the problem of urban insecurity in the environment where it is produced and communicate directly with the citizens (Bennett et al., 2006). Consequently, they could notice changes that are associated with CCTV in the area. Despite these organizations’ role and involvement in solving the problem, their opinion is understudied in the academic literature.
This paper aims at investigating NGO workers’ subjective estimation of the effectiveness of urban security interventions (including CCTV) on the feeling of insecurity of local citizens of Budapest and Milan. The cities for this research were chosen in Europe based on the maximum variation approach (Flyvbjerg, 2006).
For this study, the method of semi-structured interviews was selected as it allows focusing narrowly on the studied topic but still encourages an interviewee to talk extensively (Rubin, Rubin, 2012). Given a small population size (five organizations in each city), eight interviews were conducted (four in each city). For the analysis of the interview transcripts, based on the theoretical approach and fieldwork experience, I formulated the analytical categories for creating the guide for coding. After the coding phase, the relationships between the codes were studied (Crabtree, Miller, 1992; Schmidt, 2004).
The analysis shows that, in both cities, criminal activity is discussed as one of the major factors influencing the feeling of insecurity; however, other causes are different. In Milan, the discourse around the problem of insecurity is mainly built on the problem of social ties disintegration. The respondents stated that in such a big city as Milan people feel more disconnected from their community, which leads to the lack of social cohesion there and, consequently, local inhabitants feel less secure as there is a lack of trust between the locals. In contrast to this, in Budapest, the analysis reveals more objective factors: an excessive representation of crime in the media, notions of urban decay (litter, graffiti, etc.), the presence on the streets of homeless people, the stigmatization of some ethnic minority (e.g. the Roma people) and migrant groups as dangerous.
Such differences in discussed factors can be attributed not only to the discrepancies of social, economic, and political situations in the cities but also to the dominance of one of crime prevention approaches. In Italy, social crime prevention is more significant, so it highlights the role of social cohesion in improving the feeling of security. Whereas in Hungary, situational crime prevention is more prominent which puts in the spotlight the criminal activity and “objective” notions of insecurity.
The dominance of situational crime prevention in Hungary also could explain the fact that the respondents pointed out crime prevention through environmental design and CCTV to be very effective to enhance the feeling of security. At the same time, in Milan, the analysis of the interviews demonstrates that while CCTV could contribute to the feeling of security, the informal surveillance is more important, that is, there are more people in the streets and their presence can deter crime. So, social cohesion and active participation of the local inhabitants are important for improving the feeling of security in the city.
Interestingly, despite this difference in the subjective estimation of the impact of CCTV on the feeling of insecurity, in both countries, the empirical data analysis shows that the privacy concerns associated with video-surveillance are not important to the local inhabitants. On the contrary, there might be a demand for more CCTV if the citizens do not feel secure enough on the streets, which implies that they are willing to give up some part of their freedoms at the expense of more security.
Our study shows that there are principal differences between the cities in discussing problems included in the urban security discourse. The Hungarian policies tend to ignore existing problems focusing on achieving such general goals as maintaining public order and cleanliness of the streets. Simultaneously, some renovation projects implemented in Budapest focused only on solving situational problems without any attention to the social side of the problem. The same inclination towards situational problems is traceable in the discourse generated by Hungarian NGOs. In contrast, the Italian policies aim at dealing with existing situational and social problems. NGOs’ representatives working in Milan mainly built their discourse of urban security around deeper social problems associated with life in metropolises (vulnerability, the disintegration of traditional social ties, etc.). We argue that the difference can be attributed to the variation in political and social environments between the cities, in particular, to the different models of governance (hierarchical in Hungary and co-governance in Italy) (Kooiman, 2003), and the dominance of one of the approaches to crime prevention (social or situational).
In this paper, I aim at exploring two main theoretical standpoints on the usage of CCTV in urban spaces and collecting the data through it: surveillance and security societies. Interestingly, both of them find their roots in M. Foucault’s ideas. The first one is based on Foucault’s perspective on disciplinary power and its usage for implementing surveillance over physical bodies (as it was illustrated on the example of the panopticon, the perfect prison). This idea was developed further by D. Lyon and other researchers who consider video-surveillance to be a context of collecting personal data that is subsequently processed and stored by private and state agents. Consequently, the knowledge of the presence of video-surveillance can stop a potential criminal from breaching a law.
The second approach, security society, also draws on Foucault’s ideas but is based on his views of a society in which security apparatuses (with the main aim of calculating risks arising within a population and choosing measures for tackling them) have the leading role. L. Zedner, along with other scholars, claims that video-surveillance is one of the proactive tools for tracing deviant behavior and preventing crime. Hence, here, a surveyor still has to detect a (potential) criminal through the analysis of different traits and characteristics of a person and their correlation.
To conclude, these two theoretical approaches offer different views and explanations of the functioning of CCTV in urban spaces and collecting personal information through this mean. So, in my article, I would like to explore what the main differences and similarities are in perspectives proposed by surveillance and security societies’ approaches regarding the following issues:
• the dilemma of security provision and urban inhabitants’ privacy;
• the problem of collecting via video-surveillance and storing personal information,
• the role of a surveyor,
• views on a (potential) criminal and urban inhabitants in general,
• and the perception of the implementation of video-surveillance by city dwellers.
By doing this, the work will contribute to the discussion of the interpretation of the usage of CCTV in urban spaces, which is of importance since the choice of one of the approaches could have an impact on the frame of the research undertaken on the topic but also on the formulation of urban security and privacy policies.
Additionally, due to the political change, the redistribution of the previously exclusively central state’s responsibilities to the local authorities and grass-root organizations happened. So, the local inhabitants depend on the local authorities and NGOs to provide the required level of protection from (sometimes only perceived) criminal and violence threats (Sampson, 2011).
The research studying the influence of CCTV on the feeling of штsecurity in cities provides contradictory conclusions (Lorenc et al., 2013). This paper contributes to the existing scholarly discussion by studying the perspective of people who are directly involved in tackling the issue at the local level: NGOs aimed at enhancing urban security in Milan and Budapest. These organizations deal with the problem of urban insecurity in the environment where it is produced and communicate directly with the citizens (Bennett et al., 2006). Consequently, they could notice changes that are associated with CCTV in the area. Despite these organizations’ role and involvement in solving the problem, their opinion is understudied in the academic literature.
This paper aims at investigating NGO workers’ subjective estimation of the effectiveness of urban security interventions (including CCTV) on the feeling of insecurity of local citizens of Budapest and Milan. The cities for this research were chosen in Europe based on the maximum variation approach (Flyvbjerg, 2006).
For this study, the method of semi-structured interviews was selected as it allows focusing narrowly on the studied topic but still encourages an interviewee to talk extensively (Rubin, Rubin, 2012). Given a small population size (five organizations in each city), eight interviews were conducted (four in each city). For the analysis of the interview transcripts, based on the theoretical approach and fieldwork experience, I formulated the analytical categories for creating the guide for coding. After the coding phase, the relationships between the codes were studied (Crabtree, Miller, 1992; Schmidt, 2004).
The analysis shows that, in both cities, criminal activity is discussed as one of the major factors influencing the feeling of insecurity; however, other causes are different. In Milan, the discourse around the problem of insecurity is mainly built on the problem of social ties disintegration. The respondents stated that in such a big city as Milan people feel more disconnected from their community, which leads to the lack of social cohesion there and, consequently, local inhabitants feel less secure as there is a lack of trust between the locals. In contrast to this, in Budapest, the analysis reveals more objective factors: an excessive representation of crime in the media, notions of urban decay (litter, graffiti, etc.), the presence on the streets of homeless people, the stigmatization of some ethnic minority (e.g. the Roma people) and migrant groups as dangerous.
Such differences in discussed factors can be attributed not only to the discrepancies of social, economic, and political situations in the cities but also to the dominance of one of crime prevention approaches. In Italy, social crime prevention is more significant, so it highlights the role of social cohesion in improving the feeling of security. Whereas in Hungary, situational crime prevention is more prominent which puts in the spotlight the criminal activity and “objective” notions of insecurity.
The dominance of situational crime prevention in Hungary also could explain the fact that the respondents pointed out crime prevention through environmental design and CCTV to be very effective to enhance the feeling of security. At the same time, in Milan, the analysis of the interviews demonstrates that while CCTV could contribute to the feeling of security, the informal surveillance is more important, that is, there are more people in the streets and their presence can deter crime. So, social cohesion and active participation of the local inhabitants are important for improving the feeling of security in the city.
Interestingly, despite this difference in the subjective estimation of the impact of CCTV on the feeling of insecurity, in both countries, the empirical data analysis shows that the privacy concerns associated with video-surveillance are not important to the local inhabitants. On the contrary, there might be a demand for more CCTV if the citizens do not feel secure enough on the streets, which implies that they are willing to give up some part of their freedoms at the expense of more security.
Our study shows that there are principal differences between the cities in discussing problems included in the urban security discourse. The Hungarian policies tend to ignore existing problems focusing on achieving such general goals as maintaining public order and cleanliness of the streets. Simultaneously, some renovation projects implemented in Budapest focused only on solving situational problems without any attention to the social side of the problem. The same inclination towards situational problems is traceable in the discourse generated by Hungarian NGOs. In contrast, the Italian policies aim at dealing with existing situational and social problems. NGOs’ representatives working in Milan mainly built their discourse of urban security around deeper social problems associated with life in metropolises (vulnerability, the disintegration of traditional social ties, etc.). We argue that the difference can be attributed to the variation in political and social environments between the cities, in particular, to the different models of governance (hierarchical in Hungary and co-governance in Italy) (Kooiman, 2003), and the dominance of one of the approaches to crime prevention (social or situational).
In this paper, I aim at exploring two main theoretical standpoints on the usage of CCTV in urban spaces and collecting the data through it: surveillance and security societies. Interestingly, both of them find their roots in M. Foucault’s ideas. The first one is based on Foucault’s perspective on disciplinary power and its usage for implementing surveillance over physical bodies (as it was illustrated on the example of the panopticon, the perfect prison). This idea was developed further by D. Lyon and other researchers who consider video-surveillance to be a context of collecting personal data that is subsequently processed and stored by private and state agents. Consequently, the knowledge of the presence of video-surveillance can stop a potential criminal from breaching a law.
The second approach, security society, also draws on Foucault’s ideas but is based on his views of a society in which security apparatuses (with the main aim of calculating risks arising within a population and choosing measures for tackling them) have the leading role. L. Zedner, along with other scholars, claims that video-surveillance is one of the proactive tools for tracing deviant behavior and preventing crime. Hence, here, a surveyor still has to detect a (potential) criminal through the analysis of different traits and characteristics of a person and their correlation.
To conclude, these two theoretical approaches offer different views and explanations of the functioning of CCTV in urban spaces and collecting personal information through this mean. So, in my article, I would like to explore what the main differences and similarities are in perspectives proposed by surveillance and security societies’ approaches regarding the following issues:
• the dilemma of security provision and urban inhabitants’ privacy;
• the problem of collecting via video-surveillance and storing personal information,
• the role of a surveyor,
• views on a (potential) criminal and urban inhabitants in general,
• and the perception of the implementation of video-surveillance by city dwellers.
By doing this, the work will contribute to the discussion of the interpretation of the usage of CCTV in urban spaces, which is of importance since the choice of one of the approaches could have an impact on the frame of the research undertaken on the topic but also on the formulation of urban security and privacy policies.