From (Most) Violent to Resilient City:

Abstract

The text describes the process of borderization within the urban reform of Medellín, Colombia. This borderization is located within the context of a transformed discourse of human security deployed in response to the changing dynamics of violence by state and non-state actors. Drawing upon the work of Achille Mbembe, and others, borderization is described as comprising two interrelated developments: first, the formation of internal and flexible borders based on the relativities of (in)security; and second, diffuse systems of dispersed immobilization for certain populations within the territory of the state.

Keywords

• borderization
• conflict urbanization
• human security
• state violence
• urban reform
• war on drugs