Urban coping models in critical contexts. Similarities between the fight against terrorism and the one against the pandemic Cover Image

Modalităţi de răspuns ale oraşului în contexte de criză. Similitudini între lupta împotriva terorismului şi lupta împotriva pandemiei
Urban coping models in critical contexts. Similarities between the fight against terrorism and the one against the pandemic

Author(s): Tania Victoria Coliţă
Subject(s): Security and defense, Health and medicine and law, Rural and urban sociology, Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: Universitatea de Arhitectură şi Urbanism »Ion Mincu«
Keywords: vulnerability; resilience; security zoning; prevention; security by design; coordination;

Summary/Abstract: Risk management has been a constant endeavor for urban areas. Even if current times are not an exception on this matter, specific liabilities and a complex urban system generate a particular context. Terrorism came to be one of the most visible threats against urban life in recent years, therefore counter-terrorist techniques, tactics, and practices were developed as a means of preventing and mitigating destructive events. Their use inside the city, among citizens, has raised questions about civil liberties, urban livability, and defensible landscapes. Before having a generally accepted response to the above inquiry and a consequent adaptation of strategies, the Covid-19 pandemic spread around the world, imposing an immediate response. Based on previous analysis of the terrorism phenomenon, the aim of this paper is to compare the way governments chose to act in order to fight the two threats. The hypothesis is that, without proper scrutiny, authorities choose to use military institutions and procedures. The ease of doing so is based on having an already militarized urbans space and a vast experience of human rights reduction in the context of terrorist menace. Consequently, the impact on urban landscape and life bears the same questioning of effectiveness and proportionality.

  • Issue Year: 8/2023
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 47-56
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Romanian