News & Events

International conference: 13-14 June 2024, CY Cergy Paris Université

Cities and (counter)terrorism: ordinary practices, experiences, and atmospheres. 13-14 June 2024, CY Cergy Paris Université Terrorist attacks against European cities over the last decade have reconfigured ordinary urban life. The proliferation of security logics in…

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Geopolitics of Urban Squares: Atmospheric Securitisation and Counterterrorism in Everyday Urban Spaces in Berlin

Katharina Ciax and Simon Runkel’s new paper Geopolitics of Urban Squares: Atmospheric Securitisation and Counterterrorism in Everyday Urban Spaces in Berlin is now available in Geopolitics. The article scrutinizes the concept of ‘affective atmosphere’ at the…

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Neue Veröffentlichung: Geopolitics of Urban Squares: Atmospheric Securitisation and Counterterrorism in Everyday Urban Spaces in Berlin im Geopolitics Journal

Katharina Ciax und Simon Runkel veröffentlichten ihren Artikel Geopolitics of Urban Squares: Atmospheric Securitisation and Counterterrorism in Everyday Urban Spaces in Berlin im Geopolitics Journal. Der Artikel untersucht das Konzept der “affektiven Atmosphären“ am Breitscheidplatz…

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Terrorist crises and urban ambiances: what imprints do attacks leave in cities? (Crises terroristes et ambiances urbaines : quelles marques les attentats laissent-ils aux villes ?)

In an era in which terrorism and security have remained high political priorities, what are the impacts of this politics on urban life and its management? In a new article “Crises terroristes et ambiances urbaines…

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Guest Lecture: Project Servator – affective counterterrorism and atmospheric policing

On 18 October, 2023, Sam Berlin presented project findings about recent developments in British counterterrorist policing methods to the Social Justice, Cities and Citizenship research group at the University of Leeds School of Geography. Based on interviews…

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‘The 1974 Birmingham bombings: atmospheric envelopments, more-than human circulations, and affective (in)capacities’ presentation at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2023

At the 2023 Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers Annual Conference in London, Sara Fregonese and Paul Simpson presented ongoing research on the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Based on archival and interview research, their paper…

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Guest Lecture: Everyday (counter)terrorism: normalising threat, risk, and hostile vehicle mitigation in Birmingham at CY Cergy Paris Université

On 16 May, 2023, Carrie Benjamin presented findings from her fieldwork in Birmingham, UK on hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM) – bollards, planters and other devices designed to securitize public spaces against vehicular attacks – at the…

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Urban atmospheres of (in)security, disaster, and recovery: paper session at Association of American Geographers 2023 Annual Meeting

At the 2023 annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Denver, Colorado, the Atmospheres of (counter)terrorism in European cities team hosted the paper session Urban atmospheres of (in)security, disaster, and recovery to bring together…

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Erste Ergebnisse wurden bei der Neuen Kulturgeographie 2023 vorgestellt: Geographies of Overlapping Crises//Geographien sich überlagernder Krisen

2023 kehrte die Konferenzreihe Neue Kulturgeographie zurück, eines der Standbeine der Kulturgeographie in Deutschland. Zum diesjährigen Thema Geographies of Overlapping Crises präsentierten zwei Projektmitglieder erste Ergebnisse der Feldforschungen in Deutschland und Großbritannien. Der Beitrag von Katharina Ciax, Urbane Plätze und…

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Early results presented at Neue Kulturgeographie 2023: Geographies of Overlapping Crises

2023 brought the return of the Neue Kulturgeographie conference series, a mainstay of Cultural Geography in Germany. For this year’s theme, Geographies of Overlapping Crises, two project members presented early results from fieldwork in Germany and the UK. Katharina…

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Project member speaks on France Culture podcast about aftermath of 2016 Nice attack

On 14 December 2022, Dr Damien Masson, PI for the French team, appeared on the France Culture podcast Les Enjeux Territoriaux to speak about the local and urban consequences of terrorist attacks, which he discussed…

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Dr Sara Fregonese to give keynote at Geography Days 2022, Tampere University

Atmospheres of (counter)terrorism in European cities PI Dr Sara Fregonese will be giving a keynote lecture on Thursday 3 November at Geography Days, a two-day conference organised by Tampere University and the Geographical Society of…

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Call for Papers: Urban atmospheres of (in)security, disaster and recovery

AAG 2023 Denver, Colorado – March 23rd-27th   Session organisers: Paul Simpson (University of Plymouth), Sara Fregonese (University of Birmingham), Damien Masson (CY Cergy Paris University), Simon Runkel (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena), Hélène Heurtel (L’Institut Paris Region),…

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Preliminary results: RGS-IBG Annual Conference and RC-21

While fieldwork is still underway, the UK team presented preliminary results at two major international conferences this summer. At the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers Annual Conference 2022 in Newcastle, UK, Sam Berlin spoke…

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Recent presentations: University of Birmingham Anthro Talks seminar and Leiden University guest lecture

On 27 April, our postdoctoral researcher Carrie Benjamin gave a seminar titled ‘Everyday atmospheres of (counter)terrorism in Birmingham’. The presentation was part of the University of Birmingham Anthro Talks seminar series hosted by the Department…

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Research Seminar announcement: Researching Atmospheres of Urban Counter-Terrorism – Methods and Approaches to Capture the In-Between.

On April 5th, our doctoral researcher Katharina Ciax will give a seminar on methodologies of researching everyday perceptions in urban spaces at the Urban Terrorism in Europe (2004-19): Remembering, Imagining, and Anticipating Violence project at the…

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New open-access paper in Political Geography: “Urban atmospheres of terror”

A new open-access paper from Atmospheres of (counter)terrorism in European Cities PI Sara Fregonese (Birmingham) and advisory board member Sunčana Laketa (Neuchâtel) has just been published in the journal Political Geography. Based on fieldwork conducted…

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Conference Presentation – “Atmospheres of (Counter) Terror in European Cities” at City, Public Space & Body Conference

In December our doctoral research fellow Katharina Ciax presented the AtmoCT project as well as  preliminary findings of her field research in Berlin at the “City, Public Space & Body” international conference, organized by the…

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Press release – Universität Jena: Zwischen Freiheit und Sicherheit

Internationales Forschungsteam untersucht, wie Terrorismus die Atmosphäre in europäischen Städten verändert Wie erleben die Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner europäischer Städte die Bedrohung durch Terrorismus? Wie verändern Anti-Terrormaßnahmen ihre Gefühle und Stimmungen und welche Auswirkungen hat das…

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Press release – University of Plymouth: Project examines the impact of counter-terrorism measures on residents’ everyday experience in European cities

Associate Professor of Human Geography Dr Paul Simpson will be involved in a new £1.1million research collaboration A new European research project starting in January 2021 aims to provide an unprecedented international comparison of how…

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Press release – University of Birmingham: Terror threats and the experiences of cities

“The project includes a large-scale national survey assessing public perceptions of terror threats and attitudes to counterterrorism measures among people living in the UK, France, and Germany.” The terrorist attacks in Nice’s Basilica of Notre-Dame…

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