Improved preparedness on attacks to public spaces

Public spaces such as squares, sport venues, shopping districts, places of worship or touristic attractions have been the target of numerous terrorist and other violent attacks causing significant loss of lives and causing societal insecurity as well as economic losses. The means to carry out such attacks from one or several attackers range from sophisticated and well-planned scenarios including several attackers using explosives and firearms, up to so called low-cost attacks making use of everyday goods such as cars, axes and kitchen knives. Such attacks have proven to be very difficult to prevent and quick-reaction and preparedness to respond are the crucial elements in reducing their impact.

The EU and its Member States have reacted to this challenge in the framework of the Action plan to support the protection of public spaces and the respective staff working document "Good practices to support the protection of public spaces"[[SWD(2019) 140 final]]. Vulnerability Assessments (VA) are an established tool for example in the area of the protection of critical infrastructures. Their aim is to identify the inherent vulnerabilities of a specific target and thus to be able to put in place appropriate mitigation measures. Such assessments are used in public spaces already by Police Authorities in case of large-scale events, official visits or as part of forward-looking city planning activities. The impact on the quality and openness of public spaces should however be minimised as much as possible. This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities. The full involvement of citizens and civil society organisations is crucial to achieve solutions that meet the requirement of having a balanced approach between security and openness of public spaces. Fundamental rights (including privacy) aspects should also be taken into account.

What is missing so far is a capability for security managers (public security authorities and/or private security organisations) and local authorities to conduct VA with the help of most advanced technological means. Tools for large-scale urban VA should be able to simulate realistic scenarios in any public space of different urban areas and give the users the possibility to test different prevention and response measures. They should further give the possibility for cooperation of the main public and private actors (e. g., crisis management and civil protection authorities, fire brigades, regulatory agencies, emergency health services, private security managers, etc.), and the development of tailor-made trainings. Continuing updates of the tools with the data of new urban areas, new modes of attacks and different scenarios would ensure that such capability is of long-term use and able to adapt to new developments. For that reason, it is encouraged to use the expertise and the community of the Joint Research Centre to disseminate the developed VA solutions to the stakeholders and to adapt it for long-term use. The Joint Research Centre might also support with its simulation capabilities concerning blast and vehicle ramming. At the same time, such platforms could provide support in planning processes of public spaces in case of new constructions, or re-design in order to avoid creating vulnerabilities and supporting a security-by-design approach[[The European Commission is enforcing the security-by-design concept to enhance the protection of public spaces, see potential approaches https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/guideline-building-perimeter-protection. As proposed in the Counterterrorism Agenda (COM(2020) 795 final) the Commission will also develop a virtual architectural book on urban design, which can serve as inspiration for authorities to incorporate security aspects in the design of future and the renovation of existing public spaces.]], similar to what exist already for safety.

Responsible Research and Innovation[[Responsible research and innovation involves multi-actor and public engagement in research and innovation, easier access to scientific results, the take up of gender and ethics in the research and innovation content and process, and formal and informal science education.]] could be a relevant approach for the involvement of diverse stakeholders, launching debates, and co-developing or even implementing solutions.

In this topic the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content should be addressed only if the consortium deems it relevant in relation to the objectives of the research effort.