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RING OF STEEL A collaborative project between photographer Henrietta Williams and map maker George Gingell. Up to 4 million CCTV cameras trace and capture the movements of people across Britain every day. Government are increasingly structuring our urban environments around the idea of the Panopticon. We now live in a society in which we are unwittingly ordered and controlled, where security and safety are paramount. Our project seeks to demonstrate the pervasive nature of surveillance society in the UK. This approach to urban planning, often referred to as fortress urbanism, draws on defence initiatives from conflict zones and applies them within civilian locations. The 'Ring of Steel' was first created in 1993 to protect the City of London from the threat of terrorism after the IRA had identified the capitalist financial centre as a perfect target for their bombing campaign. Yet this is not the first time the area has had to be fortified against attack. The 'Ring of Steel' lies alongside and intersects the ancient London Wall, first constructed by the Romans. Instead of bricks and stone, this contemporary defence system uses CCTV cameras, sentry boxes, bollards, one-way systems and flower planting. The old street patterns have been redrawn to create a new urban plan that is easy to police, instead anonymous non-places are generated that discourage citizens from lingering. People and conventional activities are removed from the streets, unwanted in a new world where surveillance is paramount. Our project uses maps and photographs to make visible the function, nature and effect of the Ring of Steel, its role as a Panopticon, and demonstrates how it follows an ancient line of defence whilst deploying a very 21st century approach to control. Henrietta Williams, 2011 To view map in 3d click HERE Requires Google Earth. To view map in 2d click HERE