A mirrored city underground : air-raid shelters as political architectures in Barcelona and London, 1936-40
Valentines-Álvarez, Jaume (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut d'Història de la Ciència)

Date:	2025
Abstract:	This article examines air-raid shelters in Barcelona and London during the late 1930s as architectural embodiments of political ideologies and social dynamics. During the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona became a huge laboratory to test not only new means of destruction but also of protection for the coming World War: a city of shelters emerged underground, mobilizing nature, knowledge, expertise, and community networks. In London, the heated debate on civil defense was informed by the experiments held in Barcelona. Focusing on three types of shelters and the politics that they reflected, the study reveals how wartime protection technologies mirrored the conflicts and hierarchies of the societies they served. By situating these shelters within broader wartime technopolitics, the article highlights the interplay between technological landscapes, social networks, gender constructs, and political ideologies during moments of crisis.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2023-150413NB-C21 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2021/SGR-00015
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Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Underground infrastructures ; Grassroots technopolitics ; Community networks ; Civil defense ; Spanish Civil War ; World War II
Published in:	Technology and Culture, Vol. 66, number 2 (April 2025) , p. 321-355, ISSN 1097-3729

DOI: 10.1353/tech.2025.a956847
PMID: 40255161

44 p, 2.9 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut d'Història de la Ciència (IHC)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles