Security and atonement: controlling access to the World Trade Center memorial

Abstract

Visitors are subject to extensive access-control procedures at the open but as-yet unfinished World Trade Center (WTC) memorial site. This is in sharp contrast to the open plaza envisioned in Michael Arad’s finished design. We argue that rather than being merely a pragmatic security measure or a distraction from the memorial, such access-control can be best understood as a public ritual of atonement for the security failures that led to the 9/11 attacks.