Introduction. Multidimensional Risks in the XXI Century

Risk and uncertainty are defining features of current political and media discourses and of a wider cultural Zeitgeist. Amid processes of reflexive modernisation where existing categories and beliefs are called into question, the need for new categories, analytical frameworks and ideas for studying how risk and uncertainty are interwoven within every aspect of everyday life becomes increasingly apparent. More so now than ever, one might say, after the pandemic and the war in Ukraine caught the whole world by surprise. Processes of globalization, and their economic, social and political dimensions, give rise to new forms of risk and contribute to changing strategies of intervention by the state and other actors. Meanwhile the models of interplay across different actors and their respective spheres of influence continue to shift. All that was thought of as solid and long-lasting seems to «melt into air», as Marx once put it. New tools are required to try and make sense of the new global framework, especially regarding what has become the most usual human environment, the (mega) city. We discuss these issues before sketching a brief introduction to the contributions in this Focus.