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Future war in cities: Urbanization's challenge to strategic studies in the 21st century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2017

Michael Evans
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Abstract

This article argues that, despite an ongoing global revolution in urban demography, most Western military research into urbanization is narrowly focused and remains disengaged from the interdisciplinary expertise of urban studies. Because so many cities are sui generis in terms of their governance, architectural design and demographic composition, the art of war must seek closer interaction with the science of cities. In the coming years, in order to control armed violence and reduce casualties across an urbanizing world, military analysts must seek greater cooperation with urban specialists. The common aim must be to develop an urban-oriented strand of strategic studies that is firmly based on a sophisticated understanding of the ecology of cities. Such a cooperative approach will assist in the development of military methods of operating in cities using appropriate rules of engagement that embrace international humanitarian law.

Keywords

citiesmegacitiesurbanizationwar in citiesstrategic studiesscience of citiesurban development
Type
The problem
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 98 , Issue 901: War in cities , April 2016 , pp. 37 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © icrc 2017 

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References

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36 Bugeaud, Maréchal, La guerre des rues et des maisons, unpublished manuscript presented by Maité Boussy, Jean-Paul Rocher, Paris, 1997 Google Scholar. This is significant as the first professional military study of a modern, industrial-age city. For the evolution of modern urban warfare and speculations on the future, see Evans, Michael, “Lethal Genes: The Urban Military Imperative and Western Strategy in the Early Twenty-First Century”, Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 32, No. 4, 2009 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Evans, Michael, City Without Joy: Urban Military Operations into the 21st Century, Occasional Paper No. 2, Australian Defence College, Canberra, 2007 Google Scholar; M. Evans, above note 33, pp. 33–43.

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46 Ibid ., p. 69.

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59 Ibid ., pp. 19–20, 25–27.

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61 Ibid ., pp. 57–58.

62 Scales, Robert H. Jr., “Urban Warfare: A Soldier's View”, Military Review, Vol. 85, No. 1, 2005, p. 10Google Scholar.

63 M. Evans, above note 33, pp. 33–43.

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65 J. Kotkin, above note 12, p. xviii.

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