Coercive Cities: Reflections on the Dark Side of Urban Power in the 21 St Century

Abstract

:Urban theory has largely overlooked the continuing centrality of coercion in the governance of cities. The paper argues that urban research should take everyday coercion far more seriously in the next decade than it did in the previous two. It highlights seven key research questions: what kinds of coercive power do cities have at their disposal? In what ways are cities terrains of coercion? Who are the agents of coercion? Who are its subjects? What are the configurations of coercive and non-coercive power in cities? When is coercion legitimate? And, what are the implications of enduring coercion for our understandings of urban change? The paper concludes that a better appreciation of coercive cities is essential for an adequate understanding of urban power in the 21st century.Night after night, hornetlike helicopter gunships stalk enigmatic enemies in the narrow streets of slum districts, pouring hellfire into shanties or fleeing cars. Every morning the slums reply with suicide bombers and eloquent explosions. If the empire can deploy Orwellian technologies of repression, its outcasts have the gods of chaos on their side. (Davis, Citation, p. 206)

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