Spaces and Measures between Welfare State and Security State

Publications: Contribution to conferenceConference abstract for conferenceResearch

Abstract

The departure point for this paper is the perspective that spa- tial formats of Nordic welfare systems can be read as ‘welfare plastics’ – as welfare ‘frozen in matter.’ The paper focuses upon public spaces and the public realm in their transformation as a ‘welfare plastic’ – after 2001, and particularly since 2011 – under the dynamics of securitization. Here the presence of expanding physical security measures in public space is in- vestigated, in the context of existing theorizations of these de- velopments as an articulation of the reorientation of the role of the state, and its welfare priorities, away from social security toward physical security (Graham 2011, Kaspersen 2013).
The paper investigates public space transformation within the urban core of Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, addressing the drivers, planning and implementation processes of adopting physical security measures (PSM); their impact in the spatial restructuring of the city; and their role in producing an evolving form of urban spatial politics and welfare.
By placing the contemporary spatial and material conditions and performance of particular spaces in 2020 in relief with those of the same spaces a half century earlier – in 1970 at the height of the so-called ‘golden-age’ of the Danish welfare state – the paper attempts to draw out some of the implications of shifting urban welfare imaginaries and ideals readable from the welfare plastics themselves. The work draws upon field- work, analysis of photography, mapping, media reporting and public discourse, and interviews, in dialogue with related theo-
retical discourses on securitization.
Original languageEnglish
Publication date2021
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished - 2021
EventSpaces of Welfare - Det Kongelige Akademi - Arkitektur, Design, Konservering, København, Denmark
Duration: 6 May 20217 May 2021

Conference

ConferenceSpaces of Welfare
LocationDet Kongelige Akademi - Arkitektur, Design, Konservering
Country/TerritoryDenmark
CityKøbenhavn
Period06/05/202107/05/2021

Keywords

  • Architecture
  • Urbanism
  • Public Space
  • Security
  • Liveability
  • Welfare

Artistic research

  • No
  • Spaces of Welfare

    Deane Simpson (Participant)

    6 May 20217 May 2021

    Activity: Participating in or organising an event Organisation and participation in conference

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