Affective (in)securities: atmospheres of unease and threat in urban Europe

This thesis examines how urban dwellers’ perceptions and affective experiences of urban spaces have shifted, particularly in light of increasing securitization and security measures. By analysing the altered (im)material, infrastructural, and practice-based security, this thesis highlights the role of the affective in the everyday geopolitics of urban spaces, which has been largely neglected in existing empirical studies. The analysis aims to conceptualize spatialized emotions as affective atmospheres, considering how spaces are perceived and experienced. It also sheds light on the articulation and (re)production of affects as a governance tool. This study is particularly interested in understanding how hegemonic security efforts resonate or fail to resonate with the needs of various urban communities. Therefore, it also examines alternative approaches to security that centre around care and awareness instead of control and surveillance. In terms of methodology, the analysis is based on an in-depth sensory and spatial ethnographic study of European cities, with a particular focus on Berlin. The study illustrates how the persistent political production of (in)security and threats affects the comfort level of urban dwellers. Furthermore, the analysis shows how especially racialized and marginalized communities are distressed by the often-exclusionary infrastructures and technologies of the security state and how the implementation of security in urban spaces is not always suited to the needs of those living in them. The study contributes to a critical examination of the ongoing urban securitization. It informs our theoretical understanding of securities and safeties by introducing a focus on the affective and experiential realm of (in)securitize(d) urban spaces.