Militarization of Cities: The Urban Dimension of Contemporary Security
Katarína Svitková – Cities are, by their very nature, prone to manifestations of political violence and vulnerable to disasters of various kinds. As nodes of population, infrastructure, investment, centers of political and economic power and hubs of innovation and information networks, urban areas serve as a backbone of today’s global capitalist economy. At the same time, negative effects of contemporary risks and threats tend to multiply in cities; be it terrorism, organized crime and all types of political violence, including armed conflicts; as well as a wide array of natural disasters and man-induced accidents with a potential of affecting up to millions of urban dwellers at once. As both cause and consequence, we have witnessed an unprecedented securitization and militarization of urban spaces, not only in “traditional” armed conflicts but also in case of global events of purely civilian nature. The impacts of this trend have not been researched to a sufficient degree.
