ABSTRACT
In the early 2000s, the increased targeting of crowded locations elicited security responses that showcased the need to integrate effective protective security into the design of at-risk sites, the increased importance of built environment professionals such as planners, architects and urban designers in security planning and, the need to consider the visible impact of security measures. These questions of proportionality, collective responsibility and visibility of protective counterterrorism security are addressed in this chapter. The first section highlights the changing terrorist philosophies deployed against ‘soft targets’ in Western cities that were seen to present significantly new security challenges. Second, the chapter interrogates the role of the cityscape in mirroring state security policy as emphasised in the literary and aesthetic turn in security studies and critical work on the politics of aesthetics. Third, these ideas are related to an analysis of security policy in the United Kingdom and the United States and present a wide range of examples of attempts to embed counterterrorism features into contemporary streetscapes. This section unpacks the appearance and symbolic impact of both visible and more ‘invisible’ forms of security interventions. The fourth section reasserts the importance of understanding the variety of ways in which security features are ‘read’ by different stakeholders, the implications of streetscape protection for everyday urban experience, as well as illuminating how counterterrorism policy has evolved in a more sensitive way at the urban scale.
