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Short abstract

Current geopolitical tensions have spawned discussion about the preparedness for compound urban crises. In these discussions, the revitalization of public shelters for the protection of citizens has emerged as a strategy. This paper studies which crisis imaginaries these shelters embody.

Long abstract

Current geopolitical tensions, the threat of (hybrid) warfare in Europe and climate-related disasters, have spawned discussion about the need to get better prepared for compound urban crises. In these discussions, the revitalization of public bunkers and shelters as critical infrastructures for the protection of citizens has emerged as a potential strategy. Focusing on both the Cold War period and the 2020s, this paper studies how in Dutch cities, the uses and meanings of shelters have changed over time (as objects for civil protection, cultural heritage, obsolete objects, (military) strategic objects, repurposed objects etc) and which crisis imaginaries they embody. Conceptually, the paper takes an infrastructural lens focusing on the debate about the ‘de-infrastructuring’ and ‘re-infrastructuring’ of shelters and the role of obduracy in this process of transformation. Based on an analysis of archival documents on Dutch shelter design and use in the Cold War era, public safety reports and campaigns, newspaper articles as well as Dutch and EU policy reports on civil preparedness, it addresses questions such as: What are the underlying discourses and assumptions regarding the nature, scope and potential impacts of the crises for which public bunkers and shelters were considered as (potential) solutions? How do past governmental decisions regarding bunker and shelter maintenance, investment, technological design, or austerity policies shape the current debate on their role in crisis preparedness in cities? In this way, the paper engages with notions of "crisis", "crisis infrastructure" as well as "crisis infrastructuring" as historically situated political and cultural constructs.