Metropolitics

Democratic public spaces in the face of terrorism

Carole Gayet-Viaud & translated by Oliver Waine — 2016-01-29T06:00:00Z

The collective harm inflicted by the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday 13 November 2015 results in part from the fact that the perpetrators of these attacks took the specific qualities of urban public spaces and turned them against the city: hospitality, anonymity and the presumption of trust in others. All these characteristics form the foundations of civil exchanges in democratic public spaces.
The terrorist acts of which we were victims in Paris on Friday 13 November 2015 caused both

- Essays / public space, democracy, sociabilities, attacks, citizenship, civility, hospitality, trust, mores, politics, street, terrorism

The Dangers of Security

Médéric Martin-Mazé & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-05-22T04:30:00Z

In Against Security, Harvey Molotch highlights – through various examples, including the New York subway, airports, and post‑Katrina New Orleans – the way in which security agencies are increasingly replacing common sense with bureaucratic systems that, despite good intentions, in fact have numerous pernicious effects. In his conclusion, he makes a number of proposals for a more human and altruistic form of security.
No one was able to prevent Andreas Lubitz from sending the Airbus A320 he

- Reviews / public space, public transportation, New Orleans, Katrina, New York, security, mass transit, metro, subway, resilience, attacks, airport, bureaucracy, Featured

“I, you, he, she, we are all Charlie”: what feeling concerned means

Gérôme Truc & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-02-05T05:50:00Z

The attacks that took place in Paris in early January have affected French society in a way never seen before, as shown by the number of people that joined marches all over France on 11 January and the success of the message “I am Charlie”, which spread incredibly quickly and was widely adopted, reported, adapted – and subsequently criticised – immediately after the events of 7 January. How are we to make sense of the solidarity exhibited through this message? And what are the specificities of

- Essays / France, public space, collective action, Paris, attacks, citizenship, concernedness, solidarity, attachment, terrorism