Deradicalizing the city. Policy assemblage, security and the question of belonging in Brussels

This research focuses on urbanity and security. A first objective aims to document and map policies and plans of urban regeneration and urban security in relationship to counter-terrorism and deradicalization policies. I take 2004, the year of the Madrid attacks, as a starting point since it also signals the official adoption of the term 'radicalization' at the EU level. A second research objective seeks to examine the (changing) conceptualizations of risk, danger, and (in)security in the formulation of policy objectives at the local and regional Brussels level and how it interacts with, or is influenced by, national and EU policies. A third research objective aims to analyse the exchange of expertise and practices between policy actors across different urban municipalities, both nationally (e.g. Brussels, Verviers and Antwerp) and transnationally.