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These questions underpin our new research project Atmospheres of (counter)terrorism in European cities which is funded under the ESRC’s Open Research Area in Europe (ORA) with funders ANR (France) and DFG (Germany). And Importantly, we know little of how these emotive experiences of threat and counterterrorism translate – often profoundly unequally - across different urban communities. While extensive research is available on the physical security interventions of counterterrorism, what we still know little about is how terror threat and counterterror security measures alter the everyday felt experience of cities for millions of residents. As such, they are difficult to protect via defensive infrastructures or security cordons, without altering their experience. These are everyday spaces (markets, pavements, restaurants, public buildings), open to different publics and an organic part of the city’s built and social fabric.
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Since the Twin Towers attacks in 2001, terrorists have shifted away from targeting high-profile, heavily securitised sites like embassies or symbolic buildings, and increasingly hit what are known as 'soft’ targets. Worldwide, terrorism hits the everyday life and vital functions of cities: transport networks, cultural life, hospitality, and social encounters in public space.
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On Monday as we write, terrorist shootings are ongoing in Vienna’s inner district, amidst restaurants and shopping streets. The terrorist attacks in Nice’s Basilica of Notre-Dame last week, came as France entered a second pandemic lockdown and, the BBC reported, “the French are feeling disoriented and frightened”.