Urban survival refers to survival in an urban environment that may take place during or after a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or other threat to mankind. Urban survival can take place in the city or in the suburbs, but requires a large mass of people or buildings. While many survival gurus write about roughing it in the wilderness, there are advantages and disadvantages of urban survival.
Advantages of Urban Survival
1. Over half of the world’s population lives in urban and suburban areas. The ability to survive at home reduces the risk of becoming a refugee.
2. The wilds of the world are shrinking due to urbanization and population growth. There probably aren’t enough wilds for every survivalist who wants to live there.
3. Those who can survive in urban areas have access to the best rivers, ports, and coastlines.
4. Infrastructure is an advantage. From sewer pipes to roads, staying where there is infrastructure eases the ability to travel to less affected areas or to rebuild once the disaster has passed.
5. It isn’t hard to find an urban survival forum to provide information on your area. For those who are interested in surviving at home, support groups of those in your area already exist. If you need to organize large groups for protection, urban survival forums are an excellent place to start planning.
6. Are you shopping for an urban survival kit? There are plenty of shops available; even camping goods and athletic good stores that sell their contents.
7. Finding urban survival books is not a great challenge. Any military book on guerrilla warfare, urban survival or managing a siege is also an excellent resource.
8. Urban disaster survival can be improved over that in a rural area because of the existing emergency rescue and aid societies in our cities.
9. Urban survival gear can focus on the tools to scavenge or create what you need, instead of having to literally hunt for a living.
10. Modern blogs of people who survived the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s or Chile today can provide an excellent perspective into modern urban survival.
Problems Associated with Urban Survival
1. People can be a problem. From the risk of crime to the ability of pandemics to spread, people can pose the greatest risk to surviving.
2. Infrastructure can come under attack. Road blocks can trap you inside a city. Car bombs and suicide bombers can destroy bridges over water ways.
3. An urban survivalist is easily overwhelmed by friends, family, and neighbors who need help because they didn’t prepare.
4. When things go wrong, they go wrong with a mob. Refer to any quality urban survival guide on how to handle a threat or golden horde.
5. A suburban survival kit is similar to an urban survival kit but can be larger due to the greater ease of staying in place. Bugging out, however, will be the same whether in urban or suburban areas.
6. A suburban survivalist may not have enough land available for sustainable survival.
7. Urban survival gear must contain an array of weapons or means of self defense, because the greatest predator one will encounter is other people.
If you are planning to learn about urban survival, the best first step is to visit your local library and pick up a few books on the topic. If you have never heard of this type of survival, you will be fascinated at the attention that is has received. Above all else, remember that all types of survival require planning so that you are prepared for any type of circumstance.
