14.10.2021
An interdisciplinary approach to terror prevention
Why is it important to address the threat of terror through an interdisciplinary design approach?
The threat of terrorist attacks in public space is prevalent worldwide, leaving cities and governments to secure city centers and public spaces against terrorism. As a result, elements such as surveillance cameras, bollards, and perimeter protection have become ever-more prevalent parts of our cities’ public realm.
However, making our cities more secure against terrorist attacks must never be a technical issue alone. Instead, we must involve anthropological analytics, ethnographic fieldwork, ecological knowledge, and urban design solutions to ensure that we not only make our cities more secure against terrorist attacks; but that we also make them better to live in, feel safer to move around in, more democratic to stay in, and more sustainable to maintain.
In this short video, SLA Ph.D. Fellow and anthropologist Stine Ilum explains why an interdisciplinary approach to terrorism prevention is vital. She also presents some of the key findings of her Ph.D. study and how it informs our work with risk-reducing landscapes.
“It is possible to design terror prevention using only security expertise. But when we bring interdisciplinary competencies into play, we can cover more aspects and add something extra to the solutions.”
— Stine Ilum, SLA Anthropologist & Ph.d. Fellow
Perspectives
Why Darkness Matters: Acknowledging the Rhythms of Nature
When did you last see a starry night sky? For city-dwellers, this experience may feel like a distant memory. Our extensive use of artificial light has turned ‘darkness’ into a diminishing phenomenon – not only affecting stargazers but also the health of humans, wildlife, and trees. As Pernille Bech-Larsen, lighting designer at SLA, will unfold, we have plenty of good reasons to let a little more darkness into our cities.
The Values of Nature:
A Need for a New Driver of Urban Development
Imagine your quality of life being just as dependent on urban development as on social media. What would that lead to? The answer to that question depends on the drivers of urban development.
Our economies, livelihoods, and well-being all depend on our most precious asset: Nature
These were the opening lines of Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta’s report “The Economics of Biodiversity” and were also at the center of the conversation our CEO, Mette Skjold, had with Dasgupta at the UIA World Congress of Architects CPH 2023.
They agreed that we, as humans, depend on nature – not only as a source of resources and wealth but also as the foundation for our physical and mental well-being. We are not separate from nature. We are nature.
