Reply to: David Wood [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Call for papers
Cities as Strategic Sites:
Militarisation, Anti-Globalism, and Warfare
Stephen Graham (Newcastle University, U.K.) and
Simon Marvin (Salford University, U.K.)
Manchester, UK, 7-9th November 2002
Please note this outline was prepared before the appalling events in New
York and Washington on September 11th 2001. We decided to proceed with the
event because as we felt that there was an urgent need to critically and
reflectively assess the changing role of cities in the context of growing
tension and potential military conflict. While we do want to re-orientate
the whole seminar around the recent events in the US we would welcome
proposals that address the wider urban issues raised by the attack.
Rationale for the Conference
The twenty first century will be an urban century. Increasingly, the great
contests of globalisation, cultural diversification, economic re-regulation
and liberalisation, militarisation, informatisation and ecological change
are boiling down to conflicts in the key strategic sites of our age:
contemporary cities.
In such a context, this seminar is designed to explore the contested role
of contemporary cities as strategic sites of civil, military, economic and
political importance. Bringing together up to 25 researchers representing a
range of disciplines, including geography, planning, sociology, political
economy, politics, geopolitics, surveillance and defence studies, the
seminar will examine the tensions between attempts by corporate,
governmental and security forces to impose 'order' and control over
strategic urban sites and the contesting challenges of a wide range of
social movements to subvert such strategies and (re) appropriate their
meanings.
The seminar will, therefore, be structured around three key themes:
Theme 1. The Militarisation of Urban Civil Societies
The first theme focuses upon the shift towards the "militarisation" of
urban civil societies. This includes: the application of military-standard
surveillance technologies such as CCTV, vehicle recognition systems;
biometrics, the technological and physical fortification of public space,
buildings, enclaves and networks; and the militarisation of police forces
through application of military techniques and technologies.
Theme 2. Anti-Globalisation and Urban Conflict
The second theme focuses upon the city as the contested terrain of
globalisation. Particular emphasis will be placed on understanding recent
protests against the G8 World Economic Summits in major cities, and the
responses of security forces. This will include the most recent incident in
Genoa, but also looking back at the Seattle, Prague, Washington, and London
demonstrations. The theme will explore the role of urban protests, its
relationships with the parallel world of hacking and network sabotage, and
the attempts of the proposed transnational police forces to enforce
security at future summits.
Theme 3. The Urbanisation of Warfare
The final theme focuses upon the intensifying military interest in the role
of cities as key sites in which future military and geo-political conflicts
are expected to be fought. Cold War military doctrine stressed the
imperative of by-passing cities, based on the nightmarish spectre of
Stalingrad-like house-to-house struggles. But recent assessments of
post-cold war conflicts in Chechnya, the Balkans, and elsewhere highlight
the urbanisation of warfare in a context of intensifying global
urbanisation, the growth of urban terrorism, the implosion of nation
states, and the efforts of US and its Allies to maintain and strengthen
global political, economic and military hegemony. US and Nato forces have
thus taken renewed interest in Military Operation in Urban Terrain (MOUT)
with significant investment in urban warfare technologies, simulations and
military exercises in existing cities. Major cross-overs are occurring here
with the diffusion of such tactics into civil state and governance efforts
at urban social control (Theme 1) and state efforts to protect strategic
urban sites during major international economic conferences (Theme 3).
Expressions of Interest
The organisers are looking for one page expression of interest oriented
around one or more of the themes identified above by March 31st 2002. Full
papers are due by end October 2002. The conference will take place in
November 2002. The conference will take place in Manchester, U.K. Costs of
participation are to be decided but will be kept as low as possible. The
papers will be published in the form of a major Edited book.
Please e-mail a 150-word abstract and all contact details to both Simon
Marvin ([log in to unmask]) and Stephen Graham ([log in to unmask])
by January 31st 2002.
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Stephen Graham e-mail [log in to unmask]
Professor of Urban Technology Telephone +44(0) 191 222 6808
School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape
3rd Floor, Claremont Tower Fax +44(0) 191 222 8811
University of Newcastle upon Tyne Centre for Urban Technology
Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, U.K. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/cut/
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Dr David Wood
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
[Algorithmic Surveillance and Social Exclusion]
Centre for Urban Technology
School of Architecture Planning and Landscape
University of Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
UK
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