Cities have become in this second quarter of the 21st century the last hope to preserve the idea of progress. Faced with geopolitical changes and the rise of illiberal forces across the planet, their responsibility extends far beyond their geography, that is, beyond the municipal boundary itself and its area of influence in the case of metropolitan areas. In contrast to what the French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau once proclaimed, "cities are the abyss of the human species," the urban is projected today as the last frontier to respond to the great challenges of the world.
The climate crisis, inequality and social tensions, the impact of technological disruptions, competitiveness, health, prevention against new hybrid security threats, or the preservation of democracy, all demand efficient and sophisticated local governance.
Today, more than 55% of the world's population lives in cities, and that figure is expected to exceed 70% by 2050. A human, economic, and symbolic concentration that makes our cities essential actors, while also making them vulnerable spaces to a multiplicity of risks and potential crises, from organized crime, to terrorism or pandemics, cyberattacks, climate disasters, or disruptions in energy or food supply. Urban security, therefore, is not just a matter of public order, but is, above all, a social and economic issue.
It is for this reason that we must talk more about security policies, also incorporating economic and social dimensions such as affordable housing, access to public services, quality education, employment, and even mental health. Investing in security does not only mean spending more on surveillance, prevention, or law enforcement, but reorienting resources towards the structural prevention of the risks we face. Climate change, for example, has added a critical dimension to city security and directly affects urban life, generating significant economic and social risks. Climate adaptation thus becomes a central component of the new security economy.
Thus, the new urban agendas must incorporate the concept of the new security economy, including affordable housing and urban regeneration programs, the design of safe public spaces, sustainable mobility, and the strengthening of community fabric in a world returning to an era of protectionism and identity retreat. The main political leaders of Europe announce war drums, while challenging us with the need to refocus economic priorities towards a strong increase in defense spending and in technological and military capabilities.
While the logic of European rearmament is aimed at responding to new geopolitical threats, we must be aware that it offers very limited answers to the risks that directly affect urban life. The housing crisis, the improvement of public services, the quality of transport, the air in our cities, or the social tensions derived from the growing inequality in our societies, are not solved by multiplying defense spending. It is pleasant and safe neighborhoods that attract investment, talent, and social and commercial activity, turning security into an economic asset that must be governed with equity criteria.
Thus, the need arises to articulate an alternative and complementary narrative about what the new security policy really is, which, far from being an area of state governments and Ministries of Defense, becomes a strategic field of municipal action closely linked to well-being, social cohesion, and economic resilience. The new security economy should largely be the economic agenda linked to urban life and to cities as major political, economic, and social actors of the 21st century to build new coherences in a disconfigured world. From a social perspective, security is built in daily life and in proximity with cities that have public services capable of anticipating and managing the multiplicity of crises we face. Investing in security is investing in urban capabilities and not only in military or deterrent capabilities. It is prevention policies, proximity, institutional quality, and social trust that are the true foundations of the security and stability of our societies.
Facing security understood as deterrence and military capabilities, which is the responsibility of States, municipalism, with its mayors at the helm, must approach security as the ability to manage urban life in an inclusive way in contexts of uncertainty in which city diplomacy takes on special relevance. Given the magnitude of the challenges, which clearly exceed local competencies, municipal networks allow for generating new thinking, sharing solutions, coordinating responses, and gaining political influence to mitigate risks and propose an alternative and possible model of global governance due to their knowledge of the reality of their territories.
"While States prioritize military logic and territorial sovereignty, cities practice cooperative security based on knowledge exchange, solidarity, and prevention"Barcelona is in this sense a privileged actor and has a special responsibility. The city is home to some of the main city networks in the world such as UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments World Organization), Metropolis (the global network of large cities and metropolitan areas) or the International Association of Educating Cities (IAEC) in addition to participating and being one of the leaders in city platforms such as Eurocities, C40 or the resilient cities networks. An urban cooperation that can be more agile and effective than many state multilateral governance frameworks, especially in climate, energy or social matters. City diplomacy is also, thus, a form of security policy. While states prioritize military logic and territorial sovereignty, cities practice cooperative security based on knowledge exchange, solidarity and prevention. A municipal foreign action that, far from competing with national security, complements it with a vision closely linked to the reality of the territory.
Thus, cities ---and large metropolitan areas--- will be called upon to guarantee the real security of our societies. States will be too busy with major geopolitical and geostrategic problems, while cities will have to continue to be the guarantors of social and community management, climate prevention, economic promotion, the quality of public space, and culture. A reality that will demand even more improvement in forms of governance and public-private collaboration to manage urban reality in an efficient and agile way, guaranteeing the right to real participation in the face of the illiberal, populist, and authoritarian drift of some governments. In an increasingly uncertain world, municipalism will be the guarantee of a true economy of security, with policies with a global vision but oriented towards people and the local reality and territory.
The challenge is not minor, because our cities do not have sufficient powers or resources, but the new economy of security will require us to redefine the urban social contract. 21st-century cities must not only be competitive, connected, and sustainable, but also safe and equitable in a broad and democratic sense. We have a lot at stake, almost everything, and our cities, especially global cities, will probably be, once again, the last frontier between civilization and barbarism.