Since the American invasion in Baghdad, the city has been divided into green Zones (safe and secured areas) and Red Zones (unsafe areas).

The Green Zone is the common name of the International Zone of Iraq, also known as the Emerald City. It is a 10 km˛ area in central Baghdad that was the centre of the Coalition Provisional Authority and remains the center of the international presence in the city. Its official name beginning under the Iraqi Interim Government is the International Zone, though “Green Zone” remains the most commonly used term.

The Red Zone is a term designating unsafe areas in Iraq after the 2003 invasion by the United States, Britain, and other allies. It is contrasted with the high-security sector of Baghdad called the Green Zone. Since the Green Zone is a very small area, “Red Zone” is applied to most of the rest of Baghdad. The Red Zone is also loosely applied to all unsecured areas outside the off-site military posts. Both terms originated as military designations.

While Baghdad is an extreme case, it is often argued that the separation between secure areas and unsecure areas is found in many ways and with different intensities in more and more places around the world.

Separations between poor and rich and between ethnicities become more and more common in the city.

In the last decades, we have seen that a series of catastrophic events have increased the economics, ethnics, social, cultural separations in our world. The 9/11 attack on America by Al Qaeda, followed with a perplexed occupation in the Middle East and the War Against Terror (Islam), the tsunami waves that washed away the coastline of the Indian Ocean, leading to a painful obliteration of millions, lives and livelihood, increased the gaps between rich and poor (since private resorts took the place of the local villages), and the flood in New Orleans, which exposed the adversity of global worming and brought to light the ways capitalist power uses disasters to create economical and structural reforms, are the most prominent examples.

Could this separation between red and green, as a result of a catastrophe, occur in the Netherlands, and, if it happened, what would be the consequences?

Whereas, we cannot really say if it could happen, we have tried to explore in a number of scenarios how it could come about. In order to do this, we have chosen three cataclysmic events (Ethnic Revolt, Revolt of the Poor and Flood) and developed scenario’s on how these events would influence the creation of green zones and red zones in Den Hague.

Using the ‘ Homeland National Security in Urban Areas’  regulations, with its different alert levels, we have tried to envision how the urban structure of Den Hague will be transformed under threat. We have speculated about what areas will be secured and what areas will be fenced, about the safe areas and the unsafe areas, the Green Zones and the Red Zones of the city.

Our scenarios are based on a quick snapshot of the city. Far from being exhaustive, they will hopefully help raising questions on issues of equality, freedom and prosperity of the different communities that inhabit the city.