(2007-08-30) Robb Urban Terrorism

John Robb on the likelihood of FourGW attacks on Urban areas. Most of the Network-s that we rely on for city life - communications, electricity, transportation, water - are overused, interdependent, and extremely complex. They developed organically as what scholars in the emerging field of network science call "ScaleFreeNetwork-s", which contain large hubs with a plethora of connections to smaller and more isolated local clusters. Such networks are economically efficient and resistant to random failure - but they are also extremely vulnerable to intentional disruptions... In almost all cases, cities can defend themselves from their new enemies through effective decentralization. To counter systems disruption, decentralized services - the capability of smaller areas within cities to provide backup services, at least on a temporary basis - could radically diminish the harmful consequences of disconnection from the larger global grid. In New York City, this would mean storage or limited production capability of backup electricity, water, and fuel, with easy connections to the delivery grid - at the borough level or even smaller. (Resilience)