Spatial Violence: Relationships between Architecture and Violence

Abstract

Approaching the phenomenon of violence from an architectural perspective implies moving from an abstract notion to a concrete disciplinary field, and this is the first difficulty. In what conceptual frameworks should this relationship be framed? Is violence inherent to the architectural nature or does it come from outside? Is architecture in collusion with violence or does it function as its instrument? The aim of this work is to develop an appropriate theoretical framework for studying violence in relation to the built environment, understood here as both architecture and the city. Based on an exhaustive review of the state of the question and once the necessary conceptual frameworks had been established, the article identifies three possible approaches to the problem under consideration, namely: external spatial violence, internal spatial violence, and the convergence of both forms. Each of these analytical perspectives has been systematically developed and illustrated with the purpose of constructing a reference framework applicable to a specific case. In this regard, the Brisas del Campestre neighborhood in the municipality of León, Guanajuato, was selected. Its analysis—far from constituting the primary aim of this article—served to verify the theoretical adequacy of the proposed construct.