Cities, War, and Terrorism

Stephen Graham is Professor of Human Geography at Durham University. Between 1992 and spring 2004 he was based at Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. He is the author of Telecommunications and the City (with Simon Marvin, 1996) and Splintering Urbanism (with Simon Marvin, 2001) and editor of The Cybercities Reader (2003), among other publications.

"This is a brilliant, disturbing book. Modern cities have often been seen as places of extraordinary creativity and creative destruction, but for this very reason they are also often sites of spectacular military and paramilitary violence. These essays unsettle so many taken-for-granted ways of thinking about cities. Their authors crouch and scurry along streets that, for too long, have seemed opaque to our political and intellectual imaginations. There is a tremendous power and urgency to their arguments that should be confronted by anyone concerned at the intimacy of the connections between cities, war and terrorism." Derek Gregory, University of British Columbia "Cities, War and Terrorism is a rare accomplishment. Bringing together a truly interdisciplinary group of authors, it provides the first, original investigation of the urbanisation of modern conflict. In their plural ways and myriad sites, the essays in this book investigate the changing nature of the contemporary battlespace and the implosion of distinctions between inside and outside, civilian and military. Together, they mark the beginning of a new and vital field of analysis – an urban geopolitics – that must concern us all." David Campbell, University of Durham "Acts of war and terror against cities and their inhabitants (both anti-state and state sanctioned) are saturating our contemporary world. Yet urban researchers are in denial of this starkest of contemporary urban realities. Graham brings together the renegade thinkers and researchers who are tracking the ways in which global geopolitics is imploding into the urban world. Cities, War and Terrorism is a stunningly successful synthesis of the subtle interpenetration of global geopolitics and the micro-politics of cities and neighborhoods. It marks the beginning of a new and crucial research domain: that of urban geopolitics. This book must, and will, change the way urban researchers and planners think about and explore city regions. It helps to make sense of the ways in which the historic functions of cities and nation states (social welfare, education, health, planning) are being overwhelmed by the imperative of 'security' and the politics of fear. Purposely provocative and deeply disturbing." Leonie Sandercock, University of British Columbia "Graham’s anger at the appropriation of the events of 9/11, simmering beneath the surface of his general introduction, contributes to a strong sense of editorial passion and involvement. This volume provides a fascinating, and immensely broad-ranging, call to understand the complex inter-relationships between geopolitical forces and those resilient urban lives."Totalitarian Movements and Political Religion, Volume 7 Issue 4 (December 2006)

• List of Plates. List of Figures.List of Tables.List of Contributors.Series Editors' Preface.Preface.Introduction: Cities, Warfare, and States of Emergency: Stephen Graham (University of Durham).Part I: Cities, War and Terrorism in History and Theory.1 Cities as Strategic Sites : Place Annihilation and Urban Geopolitics: Stephen Graham (University of Durham).2 The City-as-Target, or Perpetuation and Death: Ryan Bishop and Gregory Clancey (National University of Singapore; National University of Singapore).3 Shadow Architectures : War, Memories, and Berlin’s Futures: Simon Guy (University of Newcastle).4 Another Anxious Urbanism: Simulating Defence and Disaster in Cold War America: Matthew Farish (University of Toronto).5 Living (Occasionally Dying) Together in an Urban World: Zygmunt Bauman (University of Leeds and the University of Warsaw).6 Everyday Techniques as Extraordinary Threats: Urban Technostructures and Nonplaces in Terrorist Actions: Timothy W. Luke (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia).Part II: Urbicide and the Urbanization of Warfare.7 New Wars of the City : Relationships of 'Urbicide' and 'Genocide': Martin Shaw (University of Sussex).8 Urbicide in Bosnia: Martin Coward (University of Sussex).9 Strategic Points, Flexible Lines, Tense Surfaces and Political Volumes: Ariel Sharon and The Geometry of Occupation: Eyal Weizmann (an architect based in Tel Aviv and London).10 Constructing Urbicide by Bulldozer in the Occupied Territories: Stephen Graham.11 City Streets – The War Zones of Globalisation: Democracy and Military Operations in Urban Terrain in the Early 21st Century: Robert Warren (University of Delaware).12 Continuity and Discontinuity : The Grammar of Urban Military Operations : Alice Hills (King’s College, London).Part III: Exposed Cities : Urban Impacts of Terrorism and the ‘War on Terror’.13 Urban Warfare: A Tour of the Battlefield: Michael Sorkin (CCNY).14 The “War on Terrorism” and Life in Cities after September 11, 2001: Peter Marcuse (Columbia University in New York City).15 Recasting the ‘Ring of Steel’: Designing Out Terrorism in the City Of London? Jon Coaffee (University of Newcastle).16 Technology vs. ‘Terrorism’: Circuits of City Surveillance Since September 11: David Lyon (Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario).17 Urban Dimensions of the Punishment of Afghanistan by U.S. Bombs: Marc W. Herold (University of New Hampshire in Durham).Epilogue: Stephen Graham.Bibliography.Index