Security is Coming Home

Abstract

In this book we have examined the relationship between the vulnerability and resilience of the city, focusing on the UK national, regional and sub-regional governance architectures for civil contingencies and security that are developing in the Twenty-First Century. These were primarily developed in order to build up a consistent degree of resilience across the country in order to prepare for, and respond to, a variety of threats faced. Although this has been driven since the 1980s by a concern for Integrated Emergency Management (IEM), and despite the concerns of provincial cities over flooding and the threat of animal disease pandemics to rural areas, it is clear that the threat of terrorism has become the predominant driver at state level. This has enabled emergency planning to enjoy unprecedented funding and profile at all scales. In the last chapter, we explored what this might mean for the everyday life of the city from spatial governance to institutional and personal responsibilization.