Be Aware. Be Prepared. A Critical Discourse Analysis of Australian City Safety Plans.

Demonstrating ability to provide a safe and secure environment and to be prepared for any emergencies is of paramount importance for a city’s reputation. Crime and fear of crime can negatively affect conduct and attitude towards a place. A safe city attracts more investments, business, shoppers, tourists, and residents. Urban planning appears to be necessary in order to gain awareness of the resources and weaknesses of a town, engaging with the community and answering to its demands. The present paper focused on safety planning in Australia. The research analysed a corpus of city safety plans issued in booklet or website format by four of the largest Australian cities, namely: Sidney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth. In recent years, more and more studies have integrated the examination of language and culture in urban planning and place promotion. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), supported by Corpus Linguistics, constitutes a useful framework to investigate the informative materials produced by municipalities, considering the selection, connection and prioritisation of the security problems presented by the different cities. In the global and multicultural Australian context, it also appeared of particular relevance to consider the inclusiveness of gender, age, class and ethnicity representations in the official documents.