Security practices and inequalities in Caracas. New drivers for an old logic?

International audienceCaracas is one of the most dangerous cities in Latin America. Security practices are broadly spread across the city and can be seen in urban landscape, land use and mobility, and social relations. Beyond the distribution of such practices (like neighbor watching, reduced mobility, defensive groups), the meaning they are given and the way urban insecurity is represented are rooted in inequalities. Actually, misrecognition more than distributive inequalities seem to work at full blast in the framing of security practices and its socio-spatial meanings. Urban insecurity cannot be ignored in Caracas. But obviously, it is unevenly prioritized across society. An overview of security practices embodied in different logics of actors allows characterizing them beyond similarities at first sight. Therefore, stigma and dominant discourses are grounded in the context of Caracas, stemming from unequal cultural and social relations. They are driven by, as well as they frame, unevenly implemented and socially driven security practices. Here is a politicized dimension that needs to be assessed so that security practices and its implications can be fully understood in a deeply unequal urban context