Reputational risk and resiliency: the branding of security in place-making

In light of new international security challenges and the ongoing terrorist threat, the need for places to adopt security and resiliency measures to retain reputation has increased. This paper uses the concept of 'reputational risk' to argue that security is becoming one of many key selling points in the practice of city branding. We highlight how aspects of security and emergency preparedness are increasingly becoming affiliated with branding practices and utilised by governance regimes to promote and brand particular locales as safe, secure and resilient to attack. Utilising both historical and contemporary examples from UK cities, we argue that security and resilience is quickly becoming another tool in the armoury of place branders at local, regional and national levels, and emerges as a factor in the attraction of inward investment and conference-led or 'meetings' tourism and in the evolution of post-industrial cities.