Space as Extension of State Agency: Built Environment and Repression in Black Lives Matter Protests

• In Event: How Repression and Resistance Take PLACE

Abstract

Scholars of social movements have increasingly examined the relationship between space and contention, highlighting how protest sites shape claim-making, policing strategies, and meaning-making processes. Research shows that public spaces mediate interactions between protesters and authorities, with location itself becoming embedded in both contentious repertoires and strategies of repression. Building on this literature, this paper advances a distinct theoretical intervention: the built environment functions as an extension of state agency in times of protest and repression.
Drawing on content analysis of 115 news articles covering the first 100 consecutive days of Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Oregon (May 25–September 5, 2020), alongside interview data with activists, organizers, and participants (n=46), we examine how architecture and space shaped protest-repression dynamics. We show that government buildings, fences, and other architectural elements were mobilized alongside police force to shield officers, protect property, and justify escalation. Damage (or attempted damage) to state property frequently preceded declarations of “riot” or “unlawful assembly,” enabling forceful dispersal. In contrast, protesters relied primarily on open public spaces –bridges, streets, highways, and parks– which facilitated visibility and claim making, but offered little material protection from tear gas, impact munitions, or arrest.
We argue that repression operates not only through coercion and legal regulation of space, but also through the material affordances of architecture that unevenly distribute protection, visibility, and tactical advantage. By conceptualizing buildings as active participants in contentious politics, this study extends social movement theory and the sociology of space to foreground the infrastructural dimensions of state power.

Authors

• Jaleh Jalili, Rice University

• Brendan Frizzell, University of Southern California