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Security
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be it the first in the country to deploy body scanners on its rail system.
Los Angeles Times
Kris Graves photographs all 77 NYPD precincts from Tottenville to Edenwald, looking to these buildings—sometimes humble, sometimes imposing—for the face and footprint of law and order in the neighborhood.
Urban Omnibus
In the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Florida, the debate has been wide-ranging, from gun safety to arming teachers. All agree students must be safe, so why not look at architecture? The NRA has some tips.
The Architects Newspaper
The DART Board of Directors has ordered the expansion of police and security patrols at transit stations in Dallas, while also considering investments in new surveillance technology on light rail lines.
DART Daily
In the wake of two terrorist attacks on London bridges that killed pedestrians, concrete barriers were installed on three crossings to prevent repeat rampages. The only problem is that they were installed in bicycle lanes.
London Evening Standard
As of press time on Friday, the death toll from the Nice Bastille Day massacre is 84, injuries exceeding 200, a record for an act of alleged terrorism committed by a single person. It also sets a record for death by the use of a motor vehicle.
NBC News
The security cordon around the country's most famous residence is growing taller and stronger, again.
The Washington Post
Despite its insistence that the technology would only target criminals, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) should reconsider using facial recognition software to address crime. The potential for abuse may be too high.
The Dallas Morning News
Rail travelers are not subject to the same degree of security measures as air travelers according to security experts, reports Ron Nixon for The New York Times. Yet far more travel by rail than plane, and rail has been a terrorist target abroad.
The New York Times
Friday's foiled attempt by an alleged terrorist to massacre civilians on a Paris-bound, high-speed Thalys train has raised fears that a similar attack could be launched on one of America's lesser-speed trains. Are current security measures adequate?
The New York Times - U.S.
Massacre on a Paris-bound train was averted in France on Friday due to the courageous actions of three Americans, one in the Air Force another in the Oregon National Guard, who rushed and subdued a Moroccan man armed with an AK-47 and a handgun.
The New York Times
A study by computer scientists from the University of Michigan shows how easy it is to hack and control traffic lights.
Vox
When millions of Americans venture forth from their food comas tomorrow to their nearest mall, the shopping environment may have changed from last year. By design, most shoppers are unlikely to notice the increased security measures.
The New York Times
Blog post
Contrary to popular assumptions, large, transit-oriented cities have lower crime rates than smaller, automobile-oriented cities. Jane Jacobs was right! This column discusses this phenomenon and its implications for transport and land use planning.
After the World Trade Center attacks, planners, neighbors, and Mayor Bloomberg supported reweaving the site into the city's street grid, in the process undoing "a painful planning error of the 1960s." Security concerns seem to have won out, however.
The New York Times
In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, Eric Jaffe explores how cash-strapped cities will handle terrorism. "The short answer is public surveillance cameras. The long answer is smarter public surveillance cameras."
The Atlantic Cities
On this sombre anniversary, we bring you an article that was published last year by Kaid Benfield, looking at the legacy of 9/11 for community & the built environment.
Switchboard
For almost a decade, security features have been added to the perimeters of important public buildings without regard for aesthetics, and now are being 'beautified,' across the nation.
The Atlantic
Blog post
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance” – President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932
This being the decade anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks, it seems a good time to consider how our society responds to such threats, and what planners can do to maximize safety.
A decade after terrorist attacks looked to usher in an age of security-heavy architecture, new projects in cities are eschewing the security bunker for eyes and feet on the street.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
