Globalization, Fear and Insecurity

Book launch of the LSE Cities public lectures series hosted by LSE Cities

This event launched French sociologist Sophie Body-Gendroit’s latest book Globalization, Fear and Insecurity: The Challenges for Cities North and South. 

Fear has always been present in cities. However, recent events and political and social trends have intensified these insecurities and refocused very diverse anxieties on civic space. The events of 9/11 have served to galvanize the precautionary principle, increasing repression and the number of gated communities worldwide. This book analyses the diverse responses of New York, Paris, London and Mumbai to terrorism, Johannesburg and Sao Paolo to cartels of gangs and British and French cities to persistent civic unrest. These responses can be perceived as a sign of hope; despite various constraints, cities’ immense capacity for adaptation and resilience can allow very diverse people to live together with their differences.

Profiles

    Sophie Body-Gendrot

    Researcher at the French Scientific Research Centre/CESDIP/Ministry of Justice and Emeritus Professor at the University Paris-Sorbonne.

    Richard Sennett

    Richard Sennett is Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and University Professor of the Humanities at New York University. His research interests include the relationship between urban design and urban society, urban family patterns, the urban welfare system, the history of cities and the changing nature of work. His books include The Craftsman (2008), The Culture of the New Capitalism (Yale, 2006), Respect: The Formation of Character in an Age of Inequality (Penguin, 2003), The Corrosion of Character (1998), Flesh and Stone (1994) and The Fall of Public Man (1977). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Society of the Arts and the Academia Europea. He is past President of the American Council on Work and the former Director of the New York Institute for the Humanities. Recent honours and awards include The Schocken Prize, 2011; Honorary Doctorate from Cambridge University, 2010; The Spinoza Prize, 2010; The Tessenow Prize, 2009; The Gerda Henkel Prize, 2008; The European Craft Prize, 2008; and The Hegel Prize, 2006.

    Ricky Burdett

    Ricky Burdett is Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics (LSE), and director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age project. He is a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board, and was chief advisor on Architecture and Urbanism for the London 2012 Olympics and architectural advisor to the Mayor of London from 2001 to 2006. He was director of the International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2006. With Deyan Sudjic he is co-editor of The Endless City (2007) and Living in the Endless City (2011) and, with Philipp Rode Shaping Cities in an Urban Age (2018).