ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the global city-global risk nexus. The analysis contained herein is motivated by a central security paradox of the global age: the hyper-connected global cities that facilitate globalisation's key processes such as air travel and financial transactions are also paradoxically most vulnerable to security risks associated with globalisation. The chapter addresses: How academics begins to systematically conceptualise and map this global city-global risk nexus; What are the implications for civil society, industry, and policymakers at various levels, from municipal to national and global as the vulnerability of global cities to global risks appears to be a constantly recurring pattern. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 transmitted through air travel demonstrated how global connectivity, previously seen as unequivocally positive for a global city like Toronto, also heralded certain dangers and vulnerabilities. In globalised world, disorder or worse breakdown of political authority in a country threatens regional and international security.
