The discussion of critical infrastructures is dominated by the use of the interlinked concepts
criticality vulnerability resilience and preparedness and prevention. These terms can be
detected in public discourse as well as in scientific debates. Often they are used
simultaneously in a normative as well as in a descriptive way. The PhD candidates of the
interdisciplinary Research Training Group KRITIS at Technische Universität Darmstadt examine
these concepts systematically one by one and discuss the links between them. They give a
critical overview over the uses and limitations of these concepts. Informed by the approaches
in Science and Technology Studies they focus on the interrelatedness of technology and
society. The book aims at creating a common ground for interdisciplinary infrastructure
research. The authors are from history philosophy political science civil engineering urban
and spatial planning and computer science.
