Stephen Graham, "Cities Under Siege"

In this inaugural event for the 2011-2012 Urban Studies Public Conversation Series: Criminalizing the City, Stephen Graham, Professor of Cities and Society at the Global Urban Research Unit in Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, discussed his latest book Cities Under Siege: The New Military Urbanism.Cities under Siege traces the spread of political violence through the sites, spaces, infrastructure and symbols of the world’s rapidly expanding metropolitan areas. Drawing on original research, Graham shows how Western militaries and security forces now perceive all urban terrain as a conflict zone inhabited by lurking shadow enemies. Urban inhabitants have become targets that need to be continually tracked, scanned, and controlled. He reveals how the New Military Urbanism permeates the entire fabric of urban life, from subway and transport networks hardwired with high-tech ‘command and control’ systems to the insidious militarization of a popular culture corrupted by the all-pervasive discourse of ‘terrorism’. For more information, visit http://www.goodreads.com. Discussant: Heather Thompson, Associate Professor of History, Temple University, author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy.