Spatialities of Control (Turin 2006)

The chapter offers an analysis of the organization, the performance and the perceptions involved in the surveillance and security management activities carried on during the 2006 Torino Winter Olympic Games. The research, conducted mainly through analysis of policy and security documents, newspaper articles and by interviews with local scholars, workers and spectators, will focus on the organization of spaces, on the practices of surveillance, and on the technologies involved in the management of the bodies of the spectators and the staff in order to guarantee security in the performance of the public ritual of the Games. First, the event is be framed in the specific geographical and social context of Torino and the Piedmont region. Next, security threats are discussed with reference to the local context, particularly by analysing technical and planning documents and newspapers discussing the various presumed menaces to security. Then, the governance system and the organization of security spaces are presented. Finally, the last part of the paper discusses the different views and perceptions of politicians, spectators and urban social movement opposing the Games.