| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines the way in which urban areas have emerged to become one of the most common environment for armed conflict in the early twenty-first century, The essay argues that, while military professionals have sought to improve their understanding of urban military operation in an ara of global demographic movement from landscape to cityscape, strategic theory lags behind operational practice. Western strategy currently lacks an effective urban lens with policy-relevant analysis neglected within the strategic studies community. The article seeks to identify how an urban strategic focus can be developed in the new millennium. To this end, and in order to provide a context for detailed contemporary analysis, the essay examines the historical nexus between war, strategy and the city; assesses continuity and change in the characteristcs of modern urban military operations;and surveys the professional military debate on the meaning of urban operations.
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