Video Surveillance for Safer Cities

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Urban surveillance has been on the rise in the past 20 years, and the balance of privacy and security is quickly changing. Closed Circuit television (CCTV) has been used for highly industrialized nation since the late 1950s, in Sean P. Hier’s Risky spaces and Dangerous Face: Urban Surveillance, Social Disorder and CCTV emphasized on Jeremy Bentham’s panoptical supervisions and will be a reoccurring theme in this essay. Betham efforts in the dynamics of panoptic video surveillance systems are essential in find ways to create a controlled population with the idea of not being aware of when your are being watched. The expression of power is very important, to have discipline and self control on people that live in urbanized areas that have issues with obedience. The appeal for the expansion of public video surveillance with the integration of the panoptic principle is very strong, in order for expansion we need to look at four major components; the CCTV needs a more complete socialetal visualization of urban areas instead of having social exclusion, the acceptance of facial recognition systems to increase security and promote safer streets, the process of creating visually appealing space that directly impacts forms of crime and deviant acts which compliments the spatial production process, and ensuring space is being conceptualized from various viewpoints, looking at the way surveillance effects human emotions and power structures. These elements are what will be discussed in this essay and give an in-depth look at the changing nature of urban video surveillance. There are several ways to discuss CCTV systems, in terms of its use and effectiveness. Such a discussion requires a complex analysis of the types of surveillance as well ... ... middle of paper ... .... (2005). Surveillance in the city: Primary definition and urban spatial order. Crime, Media, Culture, 1(131), 131–148. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://cmc.sagepub.com/content/1/2/131. Gray, M. (2003). Urban Surveillance and Panopticism: will we recognize the facial recognition society?. Surveillance & Society, 1(3), 314-330. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://www.surveillance-and-society.org Hier, S. P. (2004). Risky Spaces and Dangerous Faces: Urban Surveillance, Social Disorder and CCTV. Social & Legal Studies, 13(4), 541-554. Retrieved March 1, 2014, from http://sls.sagepub.com/content/13/4/541.refs.html Koskela, H. (2000). 'The gaze without eyes': video-surveillance and the changing nature of urban space. Progress in Human Geography, 24(243), 243–265. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://phg.sagepub.com/content/24/2/243.

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