The Construction of Urban (In)Security: The Policies and NGOs’ Discourses in Budapest and Milan

This paper examines the urban (in)security discourses generated by legislation and non- governmental organisations (NGOs) in different European contexts: Budapest and Milan. The research has two main aims. Firstly, it seeks to highlight the differences and similarities in the discourses between the studied contexts. Secondly, as the previous research shows, legislation and NGOs generate diverse discourses on various social issues; therefore, it is essential to investigate whether there is such a difference in the discourse on urban (in)security. The findings demonstrate that while there is a general coherency in the construction of urban security, there are critical distinctions in the discourses on urban insecurity between and within the contexts. The differences between the contexts might be attributed to the specificities of neoliberalisation and the current socio-political situation in each city. The differences within the contexts might be ascribed to the nature of the involvement of NGOs in tackling urban insecurity.