Securitization for Sustainability of People and Place

Security and securitization can be defined in numerous ways. For example, an all-hazards approach to (national) security has been considered in the literature whereby we may refer to economic, environmental, and energy security [1], in addition to other nonmilitary facets inclusive of food-, health-, demographic-, informational-, and resource-related aspects [2]. Furthermore, the literature points to various sectors of securitization [3], which collectively denote a broad-ranging perspective. Securitization, based on this wider view, implies 'survival across a number of dimensions' [4], and as a necessary offshoot, across numerous academic disciplines. As such, there is the need to turn our attention to transdisciplinary perspectives of securitization to explore the nature of such perspectives and the various streams or tracks that are encompassed within, particularly within the context of complex socio-technical systems, and when considering the implications of technology, in general. © 1982-2012 IEEE.