The War on Terror and the Normalisation of Urban Security

This book explores the processes by which the practices of urban security and counter-terrorism have impacted upon the everyday experiences of the Western city.

Jon Coaffee is a professor in Urban Geography in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom and is an international expert in counter-terrorism, security and urban resilience. His work includes Terrorism, Risk and the City (2003); The Everyday Resilience of the City: How Cities Respond to Terrorism and Disaster (2008); Terrorism, Risk and the Global City - Towards Urban Resilience (2009); Sustaining and Securing the Olympic City (2011); Urban Resilience: Planning for Risk Crisis and Uncertainty (2016); Futureproof (2019) Resilience and Planning: Planning's Role in Countering Terrorism (2020).

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