What is a city and how do we recognize and assess security dispositives in public spaces? This chapter draws on my research program and fieldwork in Switzerland, Morocco, Nepal and Uruguay. It presents ways of systematizing urban space, and discusses how research on human, digital, physical and conceptual urban control elements can be operationalized: How can we create case studies representative of an entire city? What role do interviews play and whom should we talk to to collect data? Can we retrace practices across longer periods of time? And then – how to compare findings across radically different cities/polities? Urban security practices are extraordinarily rich, deterritorialised and interdisciplinary. A critical approach to data collection and analysis allows recognizing this – and it helps to avoid reproducing simplistic and universalizing accounts of security.

Taxi-time in Montevideo: Sub-city labs, simplified research itinerary

Hagmann, Jonas (2023). Mapping urban security practices. In: Salter, Mark; Mutlu, Can; Frowd, Philippe (eds.). Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, pp145-154. London: Routledge. PDF