Know Your City - Step One in Urban Survival
It comes to mind that most people think they know the city in which they live, but when it comes right down to it, they 
really only know the parts of the city they frequent and are interested in. In a survival situation, this would be a near 
fatal flaw. I, myself, experienced a shocking wake-up call when living in Denver: I thought I knew the city fairly well, 
places I liked, places to stay away from, places to walk freely and places to keep up your guard. Then I became a 
cab driver, and found I knew the city hardly at all. 
In times of peril - times of true catastrophe - knowing the city, how it works, how things come and how things go; 
where things are brought to and where they are stored before going elsewhere; where the power and water and gas 
come from, and how these utilities may be shut off or controlled; what routes people use to come and go - and what 
routes are available that few people know... these things, this KNOWLEDGE, cannot be undervalued.
Maps are useful, but never trust what you haven't verified by traveling the route yourself. Many times a road will 
appear open and accessible on a map, only to have barriers of some sort when an attempt is made to travel it. This 
is common knowledge to cab drivers and folks in the immediate neighborhood, but how would anybody else ever 
know? Other roads, on a map, appear to be cut off, yet a visit to the end of the road shows a park or a parking lot or 
an open field or an alley is all that separates a dead end from a thoroughfare. 
When I started driving cab, I bought USGS maps of the city and suburbs and mounted them on one wall of a spare 
bedroom. It was floor to ceiling and corner to corner of a 12 foot room.  I then used different colored tacks and 
colored markers to note areas and destinations. As a survival tool, you might also pinpoint storage and 
manufacturing areas, utilities and substations, navigable canals or ditches... and routes too and from them and your 
base location, as well as where you work. Mark out the normal traffic areas - so that they may be avoided - and the 
best ways to cross them or avoid them in the event of a panic situation (where both these and the immediate 
surrounding/paralleling roads will be jammed).
Never mark a route as safe and clear until you have physically transited it. Be aware of alternates and escape 
routes, should others have come up with the same idea.
Visit the utilities sites. If possible, take a tour. If not offered, try and invite yourself for a tour. Ask to see the facility 
manager. Tell them you are the chairperson of the neighborhood committee for safety and preparedness, or some 
such. If the manager is a man, it never hurts to bring a pretty young girl (cut it out - this is about survival, not social 
morays), and if it is a woman - well, ask a woman what would be good. I've never understood women at all...
If you can't get in on a tour, maybe you can get a job as a part-time janitor or something. They have full access, 
usually, and are rarely noticed. The thing is, you want to familiarize yourself with the sights and sounds and general 
layout. It will help after things go bad.
If you can't afford to go tooling about town on your own, get a job as a cab driver or a pizza delivery person. That 
way you get paid for reconnoitering your city - and nobody pays any attention to you.

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