SECURING CITIES AGAINST GLOBAL PANDEMICS
The risk of new global pandemics has become a pressing concern in the West. The likelihood and impact of future pandemics are discussed amongst scientists working in various medical fields – from immunology to virology, epidemiology and veterinary research. Pandemic threat and the planning towards its mitigation feature increasingly in policy discourse and strategy at various levels, and most nations have drafted plans to mitigate pandemic risk. Social and ethical tensions are likely to arise in connection to pandemic response and, importantly, already arise in relation to current pre-pandemic planning.
Drawing on sociological knowledge, alongside medical and other knowledges already dominant in pandemic planning, can help us reveal the values inbuilt in current preparedness strategies. It can help us identify the impacts of the mitigation planning measure proposed, and generate a better understanding of the (often unintended) social consequences of measures adopted during previous pandemics. This project pursues a range of interconnected themes: Framing of pandemic risk in media and policy discourse, protocols and best practices circulated by international organisations, smarting up cities and the lessons from other cities (e.g. Singapore and Hong Kong), the role of technology in securitising Western cities against pandemics today and the role of vaccine in the securitisation of Western cities.
The research is based on mixed method: analysis of media archives, desk based research (review of international and national policy guidelines, measures and technologies deployed during previous and current pandemics) site visits, semi-structured and elite interviews with experts, policy advisors and practitioners, and ethnography.