Concrete Blocks, Bollards, and Ha-ha Walls: How Rationales of the Security Industry Shape Our Cities
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Concrete Blocks, Bollards, and Ha-ha Walls : How Rationales of the Security Industry Shape Our Cities. / Ilum, Stine.
In: City and Society, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2022, p. 88-110.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Concrete Blocks, Bollards, and Ha-ha Walls
T2 - How Rationales of the Security Industry Shape Our Cities
AU - Ilum, Stine
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Security measures take up more and more space in our cities. In parallel, the security industry is growing. To understand these developments, we must take a step back and unfold the rationales and theories that lie behind such security measures and their materiality, specifically in the security industry. This article uses the case of the newly developed counterterrorism industry in Copenhagen to unpack some of the general dynamics that enable growth in the security industry and an increase in security measures. Building on ethnographic fieldwork among security companies, architecture firms, the Municipalityof Copenhagen, the national security service, and others, this article shows how theories about counterterrorism develop in an interplay between this diverse group of security actors. The article zooms in on a security company and an architecture firm, and their divergent approaches to counterterrorism measures, and shows how both develop in conflict with local city values and security-skeptical actors. The two companies work hard to establish and promote theories not only about counterterrorism but also about what is best for the city and its citizens, which help legitimize their work in Copenhagen and shape public opinion on counterterrorism, and, ultimately, the materiality of the city
AB - Security measures take up more and more space in our cities. In parallel, the security industry is growing. To understand these developments, we must take a step back and unfold the rationales and theories that lie behind such security measures and their materiality, specifically in the security industry. This article uses the case of the newly developed counterterrorism industry in Copenhagen to unpack some of the general dynamics that enable growth in the security industry and an increase in security measures. Building on ethnographic fieldwork among security companies, architecture firms, the Municipalityof Copenhagen, the national security service, and others, this article shows how theories about counterterrorism develop in an interplay between this diverse group of security actors. The article zooms in on a security company and an architecture firm, and their divergent approaches to counterterrorism measures, and shows how both develop in conflict with local city values and security-skeptical actors. The two companies work hard to establish and promote theories not only about counterterrorism but also about what is best for the city and its citizens, which help legitimize their work in Copenhagen and shape public opinion on counterterrorism, and, ultimately, the materiality of the city
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - Urban Security
KW - Counterterrorism Measures
KW - Security Industry
KW - Theories
KW - Urban Space
U2 - 10.1111/ciso.12424
DO - 10.1111/ciso.12424
M3 - Journal article
VL - 34
SP - 88
EP - 110
JO - City and Society
JF - City and Society
SN - 0893-0465
IS - 1
ER -
ID: 299755149