Secur'Cities
The Secur’Cities project was launched in January 2019 with the first collaboration between the cities of Barcelona and Lyon, who joined forces to improve the protection of public spaces that host events and activities with large crowds in the event of critical incidents. The aim of this collaboration is to generate common strategies and working methodologies based on the exchange of good practices in this area. The three-year project has a budget of €2.78 million, 90% of which has been financed by the European Commission through the Internal Security Fund - Police (ISFP).
In the wake of the terrorist attacks that took place on 17 August 2017, the city of Barcelona identified the need to improve its prevention and response capacity for incidents involving multiple victims. In this context, it was imperative to propose a new urban landscape design that would reduce the vulnerability of public spaces, provide shelters in case of attacks by active shooters, prevent mass trampling by vehicles and mitigate the blast wave of an explosion.
The fight against terrorism is a major problem internationally and for European Union countries in particular. Member States have therefore stepped up their cooperation in the fight against terrorism and in its prevention as well. Such cooperation has the full support of the European Union today.
Recent attacks in Europe have called security arrangements into question and highlighted the need not just for equipment capable of protecting targets but also for rethinking urban planning in advance and developing a proper security culture, to strengthen protection against such acts.
The public actors have therefore adopted various plans for equipment to reduce the risks of attacks or at least minimise their impact. A specific example is the installation of concrete blocks, the number-one urban planning solution to terrorist threats, whether for blocking streets, acting as a chicane that forces vehicles to slow down or preventing incursions into open areas (e.g. Christmas markets). They can also be set up close to symbolic locations that attract large numbers of visitors. Such systems have often been adopted as a matter of urgency, following vehicle-ramming attacks, as in the cases of Barcelona, Stockholm, London, Berlin and Paris. The Belgian authorities have installed concrete blocks, sandbags and lorries to block vehicle access during mass gatherings. Protective measures of that kind are gradually becoming an integral part of the urban landscape. One of the best-known examples is at the Arsenal stadium in north London, where the club’s name in giant letters forms a massive shield. The city of Nice redesigned the layout of its Promenade des Anglais (pavements, central reservation) after an attack there and installed protective steel-cable barriers similar to those on a ship's bridge.
The Secur’Cities project is part of this joint Europe-wide process in which local authorities are essential links in the fight against terrorism. The project will enable these authorities to secure sites with permanent and/or modular systems and appropriate equipment, carefully positioned and arranged according to the configuration. They will also be able to test these for feasibility: effectiveness, transport, assembly, public satisfaction (with the police and fire service teams). Exchanges of experience in the project and ‘full-scale’ trials of the secured sites will help to promote a common European culture for issues of security in public places within local authorities, which are on the front line in protecting the population and designing safe cities.