The Other Side of Resilience to Terrorism

This timely treatise introduces an innovative prevention/preparedness model for cities to address and counter terrorist threats and events. It offers theoretical background, mixed-method research, and tools for creating a resilience-based response to terrorism, as opposed to the security-based frameworks commonly in use worldwide. The extended example of Milan as a 'resilient-healthy' city pinpoints sociological, political, and economic factors that contribute to terror risk, and outlines how law enforcement and emergency management professionals can adopt more proactive measures. From these observations and findings, the author also makes recommendations for the professional training and city planning sectors to address preparedness issues, and for community inclusion programs to deter criminal activities in at-risk youth.

Features of the coverage:

•          Summary of sociological theories of terrorism
  
•         The Resilience D model for assessing and managing urban terrorist activity
  
•         Findings on resilience and vulnerabilities of terror groups
  
•         Photo-illustrated analysis of neighborhoods in Milan, describing areas of risk and resilience
  
•         Virtual ethnography with perspectives from native residents, recent immigrants, and security experts
  
•          Proposals for coordinated communications between resource agencies
  

The Other Side of Resilience to Terrorism will hold considerable interest for students, stakeholders, practitioners, and researchers. It makes a worthwhile text for various academic disciplines (e.g., urban sociology, crisis management) as well as for public agencies and policymakers.

Barbara Lucini, PhD, is adjunct professor of Risk Management and Crisis Communication at Catholic University of Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy. As part of the Department of Sociology, she teaches courses in public policies. She also is a teaching assistant in sociology and risk communication, crisis management, and theory and techniques of mass communications, and a lecturer on crisis, disaster, and resilience topics at universities, secondary schools, regional schools of civil protection (Lombardia region), and civil protection voluntary associations.

Dr. Lucini also is project manager and researcher with Itstime Disaster Resilience Action (IDRA). She collaborates in training activities with diverse regional and national agencies, and is involved in various national and international networks. Her research interests are focused on disaster resilience, sociology of disaster, crisis and disaster management (national, international, and European levels), civil protection systems, civil defense systems, volunteers' management, risk perception, and crisis communication. She also is interested in environmental and urban sociology, visual studies, disaster anthropology, and methodology of social research.