Obama`s mono-personal city

Obama`s mono-personal city . By: Gonzalo Carrasco Purull.

Tomorrow Santiago de Chile is prepared to receive the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama, on a visit to come to change the ways of occupying the city. Where all the means deployed to protect the president, will control and security the main criterion for commuting in the city.

And most interesting to come to deploy Obama’s visit – beyond anticipated speech to the Americas and the agreements on energy issues – will be given the opportunity to transform a city – even for a few hours – in the most perfect device of security possible. Throughout this month, the city is perceived as something dangerous, something that one should shield. So that could identify any components of this city for uni-personal protection that will be the Santiago de Obama.

1. The capsule and the first and last refuge.

The idea of ​​generating a minimal enclosure or shelter, appears in the case of Obama as a second skin, a mechanism that protects the external environment through a broad portfolio of technology systems attached to his body. It is well understood – a haven in the manner of a suit or bulletproof vest – is that there would be continuity from the interior of Air Force One to the Cadillac of 8 tonnes of the president. However, this «exoskeleton» of security is deployed beyond their body, in the form of the «entourage.» It is trivial that receives the popular name of «safety caps» as if it were an extension of the safety ratings of the president. Police cars and two security cars preceding the passage of the president, after which other security cars patrol the rear, in a structure reminiscent of the passage of a convoy of Indian territory. A support group which highlights the presence of the «War Wagon.» A customized Chevy Suburban, which has installed a mini-artillery piece of 7.62 mm, 6 guns, shooting 4 000 shots per minute, which is the main offensive of the party mechanism. Another 11 vehicles accompany the group, provided with armed escorts and electronic equipment to block and intercept communications as the caravan moves.

2. Limit the window as a possible source of insecurity and aggression.

Window – a crucial element for the creation of the architecture – during Obama’s visit will become a hazard. This was the main criterion that inspired the American security agents to choose Morande Street as the most suitable for access by President Obama to the palace of La Moneda. A small street, the windows are easier to monitor. This criterion was applied to the routes into the very palace of La Moneda, where the road was privileged to offer the presence of a smaller number of windows. One approach that reaches the president himself, which can lower the window of his Cadillac as 8 inches.

3. Follow the shortest and most direct way.

Traffic around the Palace of La Moneda also be modified for the displacement of the president. Here the criterion is to choose the minimum travel time, the fastest. The less time being on the street, one will be safer.

4. Degrees of restriction, security levels.

But the city around the palace of La Moneda will be modified rather than a uniform, but speaking concentric circles whose center is just the person of Obama. Thus, as will be three levels of security, that will increase as you get closer to La Moneda. Absolute restriction, access through the presentation of credentials, to control by the police, the three rings form through which you can read three fragments of a city with different degrees of security. Segregation and control.

5. Air, surface and subsurface: 3D security.

The control of the city not only provides the domain of its surface, but protection strategies acquire a spatial condition that air reaches the ground. This is how the president’s bodyguard also includes Air Force One, 12 C-5 Galaxy aircraft, helicopters Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King, 14 aircraft C-17 Globemaster III, 3 C-141 Starlifter aircraft, 2 Boeing 747, plus all the air support provided by the Chilean security groups.
In addition, agents will monitor the underground for the presence of any possible threat. The security space is three dimensional.

6. The city uni-personal.

The Chilean police chiefs have recommended population during visit of President Obama privilege the use of subways and public transport, by abstaining from personal matters that involve transfers to the vicinity of the palace of La Moneda. This makes for a few hours a portion of the city not only will become a safety and control, but in a city uni-personal.

What unfolds therefore Obama’s visit to Chile is a very contemporary way to experience the cities, where security and control of what is recognized as unknown and dangerous, altering the ways we interact with urban environments. Where through the technologies that we carry, we try to reconstruct that cell phenomenological call «safety capsule, an environment of non-aggression, a space that we recognize as safe. Where we seek the shortest path, where being outside too long becomes a dangerous business. Where the facades hide second and third intentions. Where we move drawing boundaries, limits, areas with different levels of segregation. Chasing only places where spatially feel safe. Obama and his city-personal unit may be a reflection of the city experience coupled, fractured and incomplete that we recognize.VKPK.