Cities under siege: the new urbanism military

Abstract

British geographer Stephen Graham's book, Cities under Siege, is very rich both descriptively and analytically. Some of its hallmarks are the diversity of sources cited and analyzed (such as press, publicity and publicity material, in addition to studies by researchers from different areas – urban planners, geographers, sociologists and others), the clarity in the presentation of ideas and the great amount of data and examples mentioned to illustrate and corroborate your theses. This work can be characterized as a broad mapping – some define it as an encyclopedia – of contemporary wars existing in cities (in urban spaces and in everyday life), on a global scale. Graham brings in his book examples of wars in different places, such as the United Kingdom, Israel and, in particular, the United States. This country, in turn, is mentioned in different parts of the work to exemplify what the author defines as the new military urbanism.