As I recall during the LA riots, the Asians defending their property successfully against the gangs. I would expect more of the same in a collaspe.
Trying to imagine what a collapse would look like? Paper money implodes, massive unemployment, wide spread hunger, etc. Well that's not that bad. We could get thru that. But if the power goes off or trucks stop delivering food to stores well now it going to get nasty. Hoping none of this happens, but preparing just in case.
In my opinion lawless feral city dwellers are their own worst enemy.
In New Orleans the first thing they did was mill around as water rose around their ankles. When the water got knee deep they went on a looting rampage for useless items like appliances and beer. And finally they collected in one place and waited for rescue.
If things had continued with no rescue they would have fallen to rioting. The survivors would have started walking out and I suspect they would stick mainly to the main highways and head for the next nearest city. Many would starve among plenty as they walked down a highway with acres of field corn on either side.
Generations of being taken care of has not produced many survivors.