Hille Koskela

‘The gaze without eyes’: video-surveillance and the changing nature of urban space

This article discusses how ever-increasing video-surveillance is changing the nature of urban space. The article evaluates whether surveillance can be seen as a means of making space safer and ‘more available’. The main focus is on surveillance in publicly accessible spaces, such as shopping malls, city streets and places for public transport. The article explains how space under surveillance is formed, and how it is related to power structures and human emotions. Space is conceptualized from various viewpoints. Three concepts of space are postulated: space as a container, power-space and emotional space. The purpose is not to construct a meta-theory of space; rather, the concepts are used as ‘tools’ for exploring the issue of surveillance. It is argued that video-surveillance changes the ways in which power is exercised, modifies emotional experiences in urban space and affects the ways in which ‘reality’ is conceptualized and understood. Surveillance contributes to the production of urban space.

Video Surveillance, Gender, and the Safety of Public Urban Space: "Peeping Tom" Goes High Tech?

The obsession with security has been claimed to be the master narrative of contemporary urban design. This paper explores some of the complex relationships between security, space and gender. The paper shows how gender is linked in various ways to the practices of video surveillance and to how it is executed and experienced. First, links to sexual harassment are examined. Technical surveillance is not only insensitive to possible cases of harassment but also opens up new opportunities for the offenders. There clearly is a temptation to abuse the equipment for voyeuristic purposes. Second, some empirical interview material is used to discuss how women perceive surveillance. The accountability of the operators is of great importance. Concealed surveillance, either the cameras or the control rooms, erodes confidence. What is of concern to women is not just whether a particular space is monitored or not but rather the more widespread politics of surveillance.

‘Don’t mess with Texas!’ Texas Virtual Border Watch Program and the (botched) politics of responsibilization

In 2008 the USA launched an interactive Internet site called Texas Virtual Border Watch Program through which the public can participate in the US border control. This paper examines the complex politics of watching and being watched in relation to this scheme, using some lines of contemporary surveillance theory as a theoretical frame. The understanding of surveillance has lately faced a fundamental change, since devices and practices which previously were available only for the authorities are ever more often accessible for anyone. The paper explores the discursive framings by which the authorities have justified the program. It brings up complex issues dealing with voluntary participation and amateur verification and discusses the politics of responsibilization that relate to the border watch program. The Texas Virtual Border Watch Program is evaluated critically also in relation to the contemporary securitization of the Other. Finally, the symbolic value of border control is highlighted and the concept of ‘patriotic voyeurism’ is brought up in order to understand the motivations of the volunteer observers.

Did You Spot an Alien? Voluntary Vigilance, Borderwork and the Texas Virtual Border Watch Program

In 2008, the US launched an Internet site, the Texas Virtual Border Watch Program, which shows real-time video from the US–Mexico border. With this site, anyone can participate in US border control. In this article, the programme is discussed in relation to contemporary theories of border studies: the relocation of borders, borderwork and the bordering process. The programme is described as part of a widespread voluntary vigilance and as a continuum of the technological control over the border. Based on an analysis of the media, three discourses have been identified: the vigilant citizens, the reassuring authorities and the sceptical critics. These reveal the advantages and risks of the programme from different perspectives. It is argued that the programme remains ‘cosmetic’ border control and that this echoes the dilemma between economic wellbeing and security issues.