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2016
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The spatial distribution of open-street CCTV in the Brussels-Capital Region

Notes de la rédaction

This is the press release related to the article from Pauline De Keersmaecker and Corentin Debailleul published on October 10, 2016. Read the article.

In a world where security challenges are becoming more and more significant, closed circuit television (CCTV) represents a worldwide financial market of more than $13 billion, with a double-digit growth rate. Cameras have become a widespread feature in many European cities, and Brussels is no exception. They have been used in the pre-metro since 1968, and have grown in number since the 1990s in connection with technological innovations, on the occasion of major international events and as part of the spread of urbanistic theories in support of solving (or rendering invisible) certain social problems via technical and architectural measures.

The use of surveillance cameras to monitor public spaces has often been questioned by researchers in the fields of law, criminology, sociology, philosophy and ethics. However, despite the widespread existence of these cameras in the territory, geographical studies are lacking on this subject. Only an empirical spatial approach can allow an examination of their distribution and an identification of protected sites and interests, as well as the targeted social groups.

The 104th issue of Brussels Studies provides a mapping of the 1365 cameras which were able to be identified in the public space in Brussels in 2014 (not including the 1800 used by STIB). The authors, Pauline De Keersmaecker and Corentin Debailleul, both geographers at Université libre de Bruxelles, go on to examine the context of the implementation of these cameras. Finally, numerous interviews with representatives of the public authorities and local police were conducted in order to complete this spatial analysis.

Their analysis shows that not all of the neighbourhoods have the same concentration of cameras in the public space and that this is related to the socioeconomic level of the populations of these areas. In terms of the typology of public spaces, the Town Hall squares, church forecourts, local retail nodes, large intersections and traffic routes, including metro stations, are monitored most. Like train stations, they are places of high mobility and are very likely to be monitored. In the same way, places of very low mobility such as squares, bars, parks and car parks are also often monitored electronically. Finally, there are places which require protection due to their intrinsic interest, such as monuments and tourist attractions (the Atomium, Manneken Pis and Grand'Place), national interest (Ministries, Royal Palace and national symbols), and municipal interest (Town Hall, libraries, schools and social housing). In the last case, social housing companies seem to behave like private owners protecting their belongings.

The authors underline that sensational events are always used as an argument in favour of the implementation or extension of CCTV networks, thus often preventing the possibility for a debate. However, the overall effect of the presence of video cameras is not recognised: there is often a spatial shift of offences rather than a general reduction in crime. Intercity competition also influences the development of the use of video cameras, and in the case of Brussels can probably explain the prevalence of cameras in the city centre (and neighbouring working-class areas) as well as in the European quarter, in order to make Brussels a ‘safe’ city for visitors and investors.

At the crossroads of private economic interests, faith in technological solutions, local and global political or security stakes, and budgetary concerns, cameras are far from being insignificant objects in the public space.

References
De Keersmaecker, Pauline and Debailleul, Corentin, The spatial distribution of open-street CCTV in the Brussels-Capital Region”, Brussels Studies [Online], General collection, No 104, 10 October 2016. URL: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1427
Contact
Benjamin Wayens, Senior Editor: bwayens[at]brusselsstudies.be

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