Kees Koonings is Associate Professor of Development Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University.Dirk Kruijt is Professor of Development Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University.

• Introduction: The Duality of Latin American CityscapesPart I: Fractured Cities, Second-Class Citizenship, and Urban Violence  Urban poverty, desborde popular and the erosion of the formal social orderFrom desborde popular to desborde de la violencia : conceptualising exclusion, insecurity and violenceArmed actors and violence brokersThe politics of urban violenceParallel power and perverse integrationPart II: Rio de JaneiroIntroductionFavela-Related ViolenceImpact on EducationMotives for involvement in drug-tradingPolice and Community - Negative DialoguesPolitical-Administrative ConstraintsPolice Oversight and the Lack of Political Will - Costs and ConsequencesConclusionsPart III: Mexico CityViolence as fact and phantomMetropolitan structure and security governancePatterns and actors of insecurity and violenceGovernmental and societal responses and strategiesConclusionsPart IV: Medelli.History of urban violence in MedellinDaily life under guerrillas and paramilitariesA promising peace process with paramilitariesConcluding remarksPart V: ManaguaIntroductionBarrio Luis Fanor Hern ndez: Past and PresentDrugs, material wealth, and conspicuous consumptionConsumption, cultural exclusion, and predationViolence and primitive accumulationConclusionPart VI: CaracasDivided CaracasThe advent of violence in CaracasForms of violenceFear as an urban sentimentThe loss of the cityDemocracy and violence in the cityPart VII: Lima MetropolitanaCity of informalesNew social actors and new forms of popular organisationLow-Intensity ViolenceConclusionPart VII:Living in Fear: How the Urban Poor Perceive Violence, Fear and InsecurityCathy McIlwaine and Caroline O.N. MoserThe Diversity and Complexity of Violence among the Urban PoorUrban Poor Constructions of Fear: Social Fragmentation and Spatial RestrictionsThe Legitimization of Violence among the Urban Poor I: The Emergence of Perverse Social OrganizationsThe Legitimization of Violence among the Urban Poor II: Inadequate State Security and Judicial ProtectionNon-violent Coping: a Gendered ResponseConclusionsEpilogue: Latin America's Urban Duality RevisitedBibliographyIndex