Using mobile communications as an example, the paper focuses on critically exploring the implications of our reliance on complex technological networks with reference to urban Australia.

Abstract The methods used to plan adaptation to climate change have been heavily influenced by scientific narratives of gradual change and economic narratives of marginal adjustments to that change. An investigation of the theoretical aspects of how the climate changes suggests that scientific narratives of climate change are socially constructed, biasing scientific narratives to descriptions...

In the context of cities the terms 'resilience' and 'vulnerability' are often seen narrowly in terms of physical infrastructure, demographic data, tangible assets and documented economic flows. These are very important, but there may be more fundamental contributors to vulnerability in cities as large agglomerations of human diversity, wealth creation and almost infinite sources of...

This paper examines the evolution of risk and its governance in Australian cities - with the focus on Sydney. It considers the construction of risk and security and the roles played by different groups in defining these concepts, in constraining the choice of mitigation strategies and allocating responsibility and power.