Abstract
Urban Violence is the result of an intellectual, scientific and methodological challenge: to name, define and move beyond existing approaches to both urban spaces and violence. Andrea Pavoni and Simone Tulumello offer an extensive exploration of the definitions and interpretations of these concepts, while also capturing the tensions that arise when the two are considered side by side.
From a purely scientific perspective, the authors succeed in creating a space for discussion and propose a conceptual and methodological approach that navigates existing impasses. Neither ‘urban’ nor ‘violence’ is taken for granted. Instead, they are brought together through a complex yet effective theoretical framework. By examining the process of urbanisation within contemporary capitalism and considering the imaginaries and vital atmospheres linked to urban production, violence is portrayed not merely as a social act but as a set of emerging and embodied elements in a dynamic dialectic with space. The urban is liberated from its static, monothematic geographical context, while violence is freed from its conventional moral and stereotypical associations with delinquency and crime. When examined within its historical context – rooted in capitalist urbanisation and the (impossible) imaginaries of zero violence – urban violence reflects and contributes to specific securitisation projects that create inclusions and exclusions through its materiality. In this light, urban violence is best understood as synonymous with atmospheric violence (chapter 6, p. 225).
The conceptual vehicle of atmospheres proves valuable here, offering a holistic perspective on an enduring social phenomenon. As a quality of a situation, atmospheres allow us to directly address the relationship between individuals and their environment through an approach that considers the material, sensory and social dimensions as co-evolving and inseparable (Thibaud, 2004). This perspective also mobilises the affects and emotions associated with these situations (Kazig and Masson, 2015). Thus, atmospheric violence becomes ‘a way to explore the affective, infra-structural unfolding of urban violence at large’ (p. 229). It encompasses interactions – both human-to-human and human-to-non-human – alongside materialities, visibilities, emotions, urban planning and the imaginary and rhetorical dimensions of (in)security.
Overall, Urban Violence makes three major contributions. First, it introduces an operational and transdisciplinary concept that can be applied across a wide range of social sciences, thanks to its practical adaptability. By incorporating discourses, practices, social characteristics, governance and political perspectives, it provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the complex phenomenon of embodied, lived and produced violence within the urban context of capitalism. Second, the book revisits a longstanding mission of social sciences: connecting the local to the global, the subjective to the objective, and the personal to the collective. By examining violence through the processes of urbanisation and within concrete urban atmospheres, it highlights (in)visibilities – whether social, material or symbolic – and explores the multidimensional aspects of the feeling of (in)security in micro- and macro-level. Third, the volume offers inspiration for further methodological innovations. While its critique of quantitative reductionism might be interpreted as a dismissal of quantitative methods in favour of qualitative research, the authors actually pave the way for imagining new methodological practices, including walk-alongs, in-depht and street interviews, observation, sensory ethnography, archival and document analysis, which can potentially be combined with quantitative approaches, such as small- and large-scale surveys. To address the complexities of phenomena related to urban violence more effectively, we need to converge, combine, and innovate new methodological strategies.
Pavoni's and Tulumello's reflections are highly insightful for understanding terrorism phenomena. Terrorism is one manifestation of urban violence in contemporary Global North societies, tied both to international dynamics of conflict and domination and to local urbanisation processes. Terrorist attacks influence the everyday experience of public spaces, impacting emotions and perceptions related to urban life. They are framed by specific rhetoric and discourse and are addressed in particular ways by stakeholders and authorities. At the same time, terrorist actions are part of a larger than local generational framework of terror, situated within a specific temporality that is both local and global. These acts are named, interpreted, and shaped by imaginaries of the urban environment as a space of comfort and peace. From this perspective, terrorism cannot be fully analysed without considering counter-terrorism efforts, as both phenomena generate and are generated by dynamics of (in)security. Therefore, it is essential to study the elements that ‘hold together’ (p. 28) violence and the projects aimed at its (imaginary) elimination: discourses, urban space design, materialities, technologies, human actors, security forces and prevention policies. When dominant media and political rhetoric frames terrorism as war (Truc, 2016), these discourses shape the mechanisms deployed to secure spaces and populations. In Global North societies, governments and politicians often impose militarised responses to terrorism, ostensibly to protect unarmed populations. However, these military strategies and infrastructures (such as concrete blocks and barriers) are primarily designed for combat and warfare leading to a militarised urbanism (Graham, 2009). Inspired by the idea that counter-terrorism reflects power structures and affective infrastructures, we must examine the emerging forms of public space militarisation, both latent and explicit. Special attention should be given to increasingly aestheticised urban equipment that conceals its security functions (Ilum, 2022). It's also crucial to explore the embodied experiences of daily urban life for both users of the city and security agents. By focusing on the infrastructures of atmospheric violence, we recognise terrorism as an act that disrupts an existing atmosphere and creates the potential for a new one. This shift from one atmosphere to another is key to understanding urban violence as a continuum, rather than as yet another moment in a recurring cycle of crisis (Drongiti and Masson, 2022).
Terrorism and counter-terrorism should be understood as interconnected elements within a dialectical dynamic, shaped by the imaginary of absolute security (Boyle and Haggerty, 2009). Viewing them through the lens of atmospheric violence allows us to consider the affects produced by, on and through terror. In Western Europe, counter-terrorism policies encompass not only militarised responses but also aim to sensibilise and make accountable citizens to take part in their own protection. Campaigns such as ‘See It, Say It, Sorted’ in the United Kingdom and ‘Vigilant Ensemble’ (Vigilant Together) in France illustrate the everyday affective dimensions of the ‘urbanisation of terrorism’ (Fregonese and Laketa, 2022). Urban users are tasked with detecting unusual atmospheres based on sensory stimuli – such as smells, sounds, human behaviours and objects – and collaborating with security agents to prevent terrorist attacks. This widespread state of surveillance and vigilance reflects a broader policy approach: anticipating crises as a strategy to prevent terrorism (Ciax and Runkel, 2024).
Pavoni and Tulumello offer an emancipatory perspective on these issues. Processes of public awareness and responsibility are not merely simple calls for collective resilience. They are embedded in the tensions of counter-terrorism urbanisation, where public spaces resemble battlefields, and their users are treated as moving targets – almost impossible to secure without their active participation. From this viewpoint, terrorism is combated through fortified urban infrastructure and pervasive surveillance. This intersection is where the ‘safe city’ concept converges with the ‘smart city’. The fight against terrorism increasingly depends on intelligence gathering and advanced technologies for surveillance and intervention, such as drones (Picaud, 2021). Urban security tools are evolving rapidly alongside technological advancements, including facial recognition, interconnected camera systems, next-generation weaponry, and photographic surveillance (Challier et al., 2025). These techno-solutionist approaches must also be examined through the imaginaries of absolute security, power relations, structural dynamics, and the capitalist market forces driving interactions between stakeholders and private companies. Chapter 8 provides valuable insights by focusing on atmospheric and algorithmic violence as potential future schema of governmentality. Given the ongoing nature of this phenomenon, it is clear that further analysis and elaboration will be needed as these developments continue to unfold on the topic of new technologies and urban violence.
