Urbicide. Warfare and the Right to the City

This text introduces the concept of urbicide as a form of violence and analyzes its implications for the right to the city. This concept makes it possible to visualize different types of attacks on cities as a common or related event. Contemporary wars, usually characterized by the partial or total destruction of cities, offer multiple examples of urbicides. This phenomenon is approached from a spatial and social point of view, emphasizing its relation to a spatial theory of justice. First, the concept is presented within the framework of the social and cultural dimensions of collective violence. Next, it is analyzed in relation to the paradigms of total war and urban warfare. Finally, its global implications, the forms of insecurity it generates and the international positions on the subject are discussed. It is concluded that urbicide not only affects socio-spatial relations, but also destroys the general conditions of urban habitability and the types of material and moral goods associated with the right to a safe city.