America the Beseiged?

Architectural securitization measures around public buildings are going from temporary fixtures to permanent ones, and most are turning once-beautiful cities into military zones. Architecture critic Blair Kamin asks, is all of this necessary?

1 minute read

September 18, 2006, 10:00 AM PDT

By Michael Dudley

"Capitol Hill is a zone of fear, welcoming the tourists with fences, slanted concrete barriers, steel walls that pop out of the pavement and steel posts called bollards that are designed to hold a vehicle-delivered bomb at bay...To visit here now is to realize that America has entered a new phase, in which various arms of the federal government have started replacing the temporary security measures installed in the aftermath of Oklahoma City and Sept. 11 with permanent ones. They are ruining Washington, ruining it in the name of saving it."

FULL STORY: Fortress America is an ugly America

Friday, September 15, 2006 in Capital Times (Madison)

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