The Other End of the Trajectory: Danger Zones

Discusses the influence of the dangers posed by the development of aeriel bombing on the work of architects in the 20th century. The author argues that theories of warfare developed from a linear to a spatial understanding between the 19th and 20th centuries, explains that this led to the perceived need to rethink the city's characteristics, and focuses on the effect of the first aeriel bombings during the First World War on the work of architects as well as professional bodies, political groupings and British legislation. He analyses the 'dispersal theory' as contained in a 1937 bill passed by the British Parliament in 1937, notes the challenge to the theory as laid out in the study paper 'Planned A.R.P.' by Tecton Architects and the British architect Ove N. Arup, and explins that despite their work on restructuring urban areas to manage risk processes of dispersal continued. He states that the assessment of risk continued to be at the heart of professional judgements relating to city planning, and challenges the work of architectural historians on the role of risk in architecture.