Cities of Banal Warfare

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

“Banal warfare” describes the ways in which the vision of the city—ridden with conflicts, terrorist attacks and disease—infuses everyday urban life, to the point of becoming invisible.

This book analyzes the impact of framing public emergencies and violences in Paris and Brussels as acts of war and how this normalizes militarism within urban contexts traditionally viewed as “non-war zones”. It addresses how this process shapes urban governance agendas, constructs the notion of the “enemy within,” and conditions everyday lives. From lockdowns to states of emergency, the book considers urban citizens’ agency and resistance, and how to rethink notions of urban peace.