Watching the degenerate: street camera surveillance and urban regeneration

Abstract

Government and media rhetoric obscures the entrepreneurial roots of closed circuit television (CCTV) and its position in the regeneration of politically and economically ‘viable’ city centres. The paper charts this concern with ‘viability’ and traces the reassertion of class based discourses on crime, fear and insecurity as a component in the regeneration of UK cities and reflected and reinforced by camera networks. The efficacy of CCTV is questionable and its significance may be understood less for its ‘crime prevention’ potential and more for its success in reinforcing a long established scrutiny and criminalisation of the activities of the least powerful inhabitants of urban areas at the expense of scrutinising other harmful activities in the city.

Keywords:

• CCTV
• crime
• regeneration
• state
• entrepreneurialism
• neoliberalism