The threat of Cold War urban abandonment and apocalyptic ‘worst-case scenarios’ linked to nuclear annihilation provided an overarching rhetoric for post-war emergency planning in many advanced nations. The cities and nations-state of the modern period came under threat from successive crises (of empire, of finance, of social order) and ways had to be found to enable cities to survive in the face of disaster. However, such an ideologically driven rhetoric could not provide for the everyday management of cities. In this context, it was not just the threat of natural disaster but increasingly civil disorder, crime and eventually urban terrorism that was of concern, and led to a series of urban responses whose influence is retained to the current day.