Public disorder and transport networks in the Latin American Context

TL;DR

This paper extends a model of urban riots to include public transport networks, showing that transport infrastructure influences riot localization and police deployment efficiency in Latin American cities.

Contribution

It introduces a novel extension of the Davies et al. model to account for long-distance travel via transport networks in riot dynamics.

Findings

Transport networks create isolated riot-prone spots.

Localized riots attract more police, aiding control.

Effective transport networks reduce police requirements.

Abstract

We propose an extension of the Davies et al. model, used to describe the London riots of 2011. This addition allows us to consider long travel distances in a city for potential rioting population. This is achieved by introducing public transport networks, which modifies the perceived travel distance between the population and likely targets. Using this more general formulation, we applied the model to the typical Griffin and Ford pattern for population distribution to describe the general features of most large Latin American cities. The possibility of long-range traveling by part of the general population has, for an immediate consequence, the existence of isolated spots more prone to suffer from rioting activity, as they are easier to reach than the rest of the city. These areas finally made it easier to control the eventual disorder by part of police forces. The reason for this outcome is that transport networks turn riots into highly localized and intense events. They are attracting a large police contingent, which will later extinguish the remaining disorder activity on the rest of the city. Therefore, working transport networks in a city effectively reduces the number of police force contingent required to control public disorder. This result, we must remark, is valid only if the model requisites for order forces are satisfied: extra police contingent can be added swiftly as required, and these forces can move around the city with total freedom.