Terrorism, Risk and the City

During the 1990s, the provisional IRA set out on a bombing campaign in England that significantly targeted London's financial core. In order to protect its reputation as a world financial hub, London responded with increased fortification, place specific security initiatives and insurance policies, and changed institutional relations at a variety of spatial scales, argues Coaffee (Global Urban Research Unit; School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape; U. of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK). He describes these practices, noting how many of them had been transferred from British practice in Belfast. He also argues that for political and legal reasons, many of these activities were justified not in terms of terrorism, but in relation to unintended byproducts such as decreased crime and pollution and enhanced traffic management. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jon Coaffee, Chair of Spatial Planning, Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, UK