Showing how the upswell of paranoia and growing demand for security in the post-9/11 world has paradoxically created widespread insecurity, these varied essays examine how this anxiety-laden mindset erodes spaces both architectural and personal, encroaching on all aspects of everyday life. Starting from the most literal levelbarricades and barriers in front of buildings, beefed up border patrols, gated communities, safe rooms, to more abstract levelsenhanced surveillance at public spaces such as airports, increasing worries about contagion, the psychological predilection for fortified spacethe contributors cover the full gamut of securitized public life that is defining the zeitgeist of twenty-first century America
Introduction: The Fear Factor Michael Sorkin 1. Cities and The War on Terror Stephen Graham 2.Empire of the Insensate Steven Flusty 3.Urban Operations and Network Centric Warfare M. Christine Boyer 4. Planet America: Empires New Land Grab Mark Gillem 5. Waiting in African Cities AbdouMaliq Simone 6. Border Tours: Strategies of Surveillance, Tactics of Encroachment Teddy Cruz 7.Re-Stating the Obvious Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Craig Gilmore 8.The Threat from Within: Protecting the Indefensible from the Indeterminate Kathi Holt-Diamant 9.Blank Slates and Disaster Zones: The State, September 11, and the Displacement of Chinatown Laura Liu 10. Back to Zero: Mourning in America Michael Sorkin 11. The New Emotions of Home: Fear Insecurity and Paranoia 12. Staged Authenticity Today 13. Architecture Emblematic: Hardened Sites and Softened Symbols 14.&al)