‘Underground shelters: body and space in the age of aerial warfare’ by Davide Deriu

This paper was presented at the AHRA 2024 international conference, Body Matters (session: Contained Bodies). It critically revisited the history of London’s ‘tube shelters’ as a means of addressing the condition of civilians in the age of aerial warfare. By reappraising the transformation of the London Underground into a mass shelter during the Blitz, the paper highlighted the role of human experience, agency and resistance in the production of space.