We have entered a new geological age – the Anthropocene. For the first time, human activity is shaping biospheric change and global evolution. For good or ill, we have become the architects of our own planetary future.

In this panel discussion held at the British Academy on 7 November 2012, Professor Mark Duffield explored the implications of the dominance of radical interconnectivity and uncertainty as a way of explaining global events, including the shift from modernist attempts to protect from contingency to resilience-thinking with its call to embrace risk as opportunity.

His fellow panellists from the University of Bristol’s Cabot Institute - Dr Jon Bridle and Professor Colin Taylor - discussed a social-ecological understanding of society, the built environment and resilience-thinking.

The event was chaired by Judith Squires, Professor of Political Theory at the University of Bristol.

How Did We Become Unprepared: Emergency and resilience in an uncertain world

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