As cities are the main targets of nuclear weapons, they have a responsibility to speak out and encourage efforts to eliminate them
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenSusi SnyderSusi Snyder is director of programmes for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Published: 8:30pm, 18 Sep 2026The catastrophic danger posed to cities by nuclear weapons is nothing new. Putting major urban areas at risk across generations is, in fact, the point of these weapons of terror. The practice of doing so is benignly called nuclear deterrence, but it requires holding the cities of adversaries – real and imagined – under constant threat.
The use of even the smallest nuclear weapons in today’s arsenals would cause a humanitarian emergency in cities. That is why city leadership should have a voice in nuclear policymaking.
Through this, nations are looking for ways to reduce and prevent the known reverberating effects of explosive ordnance contamination in urban areas, effects which are compounded and made long-lasting by the destruction of cultural, educational, commercial, infrastructure and healthcare facilities. Nuclear weapons are highly explosive weapons which also leave a lasting radioactive legacy.
