Urban safety and neighbourliness in Spanish medium-sized cities.

Session Submission Type: Pre-arranged Panel

Abstract

The TranSMedias and ConviMedias projects aim to construct a multi-perspective narrative on public policies related to urban safety and neighbourliness in medium-sized cities. By integrating diverse insights, these projects seek to develop innovative governance models tailored to effectively address municipal-level challenges. Their significance lies in filling a critical gap: the lack of comprehensive approaches to urban safety and neighbourliness policies at the local level in Spain.
Focusing on municipalities with populations between 100,000 and 350,000, the projects recognize the essential role these cities play in delivering key services. However, constrained by limited financial and human resources compared to larger urban centres, these municipalities face unique governance challenges. Urban safety and neighbourliness are pressing concerns for both residents and local stakeholders—including policymakers and technical managers—yet existing policies are often fragmented, reactive, and lack a strategic, preventive framework.
In this panel, several project members will present preliminary findings from the analysis of media coverage on local urban safety issues, the content of political programs from municipal elections, and the legal analysis of local regulations in 10 medium-sized cities.

Subtopic

• Topic 5: Social Control and Criminal Justice / Policing and Law enforcement (Policing WG)

Chair

• Cristina Fernandez Bessa, University of A Coruna

Individual Presentations

• Neighbourliness and urban safety discourses in Spain: a comparative analysis of local newspapers in ten medium-sized cities. - Cristina Sobrino Garcés, Institut Metropoli; Lohitzune Zuloaga Lojo, Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa; Rocio Fraga Saenz, Universidade da Coruña

• Turning Cops' Worries into Local Issues: Municipal police agencies as key governance actors in the agenda-setting procedures in Spanish medium-sized cities. - David José Soto Díaz, Universidade da Coruña

• The rise and fall of the punitive turn agenda at the local level - Cristina Fernandez Bessa, University of A Coruna; Jose A. Brandariz, University of A Coruna

• Taking the chilling effect seriously: measuring the impact on fundamental rights of incivility and public security regulations. - Manuel Maroto-Calatayud, Complutense University of Madrid

• Speak no Evil? Local governance of security and incivility in an age of transparency - Dyango Bonsignore, University of Alicante; David Castro-Liñares, University of A Coruna; Silvia Rodríguez-López, Universidade da Coruña; Natalia Torres-Cadavid, University of Vigo