Full Description
This book explores the processes by which, in the 20 years after 9/11, the practices of urban security and counter-terrorism have impacted the everyday experiences of the Western city. Highlighting the localised urban responses to new security challenges, it reflects critically upon the historical trajectory of techniques of territorialisation and physical protection, urban surveillance and the increasing need for cities to enhance resilience and prepare for anticipated future attacks and unpacks the practices and impacts of the intensification of recent urban security practices in the name of countering terrorism.
Drawing on over 25 years of research and practical experience, the author utilises a range of international case studies, framed by conceptual ideas drawn from critical security, political and geographical theory.
The book will be of interest to students and scholars of politics, war studies, urban studies, geography, sociology, criminology, and the growing market of security and resilience professionals, as well as non-academic audiences seeking to understand responses to terrorist risk.
Contents
Part 1: The search for urban security
Introduction: Security and the urban imagination
The city as target
Detonation boulevards
Part 2: Conventional tactics and techniques of urban security
Padded bunkers
Territorial security and the panoptical gaze
The fearful shock of 9/11 and the rise of military and urban geopolitics
Part 3: The longer term implications of 9/11
Normal protective streetscapes
Preparation and anticipation in the global War on Terror
Everyday terror prevention
Part 4: The future of urban security
Towards impenetrable and smart security
Pop-up security and the politics of exceptionality
Conclusions: Normalising urban security
