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laced with uncertainty. For others, especially renters, previous experience
is disasters and other disruptive events that lead to a sense of optimism and
confidence for living without insurance.
Christine Eriksen and Jonathon Turnbull conclude the section looking
at Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 nuclear powerplant explosion. Recent
wildfires have activated radioisotopes held within the soil and vegetation,
presenting the possibility of contaminated plumes billowing across Europe.
This airborne risk transcends national borders and appears to supersede
liability in the obscurity of its cause. In drawing on concepts of affective
atmospheres and volumetric sovereignty, Eriksen and Turnbull signpost
implications of insurance and disaster scholarship.
Our last section concerns the contemporary element of ‘Big Data,’ and
the two final chapters contained herein contribute to a growing body of
work that is following the rollout of, and experimentation with big data and
analytics in the insurance sector. Drawing also upon interviews with customers and potential customers, Maiju Tanninen, Turo-Kimmo Lehtonen,
and Minna Ruckenstein explore attitudes and experiences towards new
insurance technologies that embody sensor-generated and self-tracking
data. They describe how customers negotiate a ‘leap of faith’ in embracing
this new kind of insurer-insuree relationship based on the sharing of intimate, personalised data. Like Osbaldiston’s observations, emotions imbue
this relationship, with customers expressing interest and curiosity, while
also experiencing doubt, hesitation, and uncertainty.
Liz McFall concludes the chapter sections, by bringing ‘big’ data back
to earth. Tracking the architecture of insurance company buildings in the
United Kingdom and the United States, in tandem with developments in
technologies, McFall illustrates how Insurtech and ‘big’ data are contributing to urban form. In the early days of insurance, companies worked
to build trust and a sense of solidity through an assemblage of branding
devices including monumental stone buildings in Central Business Districts
(CBDs). Emphasising creativity and innovation, companies experimenting
with Insurtech now inhabit retrofitted, mobile spaces in gentrifying areas.
These buildings signify disruption and change, rather than the dependability and certainty of older insurance offices. Despite the contradictions,
schisms and tensions evident in the capacities of insurance illustrated in
proceeding chapters, McFall reminds us that the seemingly distant and
abstract power and prowess of insurance and insurers remain a concrete
presence within our built environments.
In this summary of the 14 chapters, we have not unpacked a significant feature of this body of work – the entwinning of elements in the coconstitution of insurance. Many authors speak to multiple elements even if we
have categorised them in relation to one. For example, Eriksen and Turnbull
describe the air-borne distribution of radiation from Chernobyl as it is
released from the earth and vegetation through wildfire. Here, air, earth,
and fire combine to produce an uncontainable and uninsurable event well
laced with uncertainty. For others, especially renters, previous experience
is disasters and other disruptive events that lead to a sense of optimism and
confidence for living without insurance.
Christine Eriksen and Jonathon Turnbull conclude the section looking
at Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 nuclear powerplant explosion. Recent
wildfires have activated radioisotopes held within the soil and vegetation,
presenting the possibility of contaminated plumes billowing across Europe.
This airborne risk transcends national borders and appears to supersede
liability in the obscurity of its cause. In drawing on concepts of affective
atmospheres and volumetric sovereignty, Eriksen and Turnbull signpost
implications of insurance and disaster scholarship.
Our last section concerns the contemporary element of ‘Big Data,’ and
the two final chapters contained herein contribute to a growing body of
work that is following the rollout of, and experimentation with big data and
analytics in the insurance sector. Drawing also upon interviews with customers and potential customers, Maiju Tanninen, Turo-Kimmo Lehtonen,
and Minna Ruckenstein explore attitudes and experiences towards new
insurance technologies that embody sensor-generated and self-tracking
data. They describe how customers negotiate a ‘leap of faith’ in embracing
this new kind of insurer-insuree relationship based on the sharing of intimate, personalised data. Like Osbaldiston’s observations, emotions imbue
this relationship, with customers expressing interest and curiosity, while
also experiencing doubt, hesitation, and uncertainty.
Liz McFall concludes the chapter sections, by bringing ‘big’ data back
to earth. Tracking the architecture of insurance company buildings in the
United Kingdom and the United States, in tandem with developments in
technologies, McFall illustrates how Insurtech and ‘big’ data are contributing to urban form. In the early days of insurance, companies worked
to build trust and a sense of solidity through an assemblage of branding
devices including monumental stone buildings in Central Business Districts
(CBDs). Emphasising creativity and innovation, companies experimenting
with Insurtech now inhabit retrofitted, mobile spaces in gentrifying areas.
These buildings signify disruption and change, rather than the dependability and certainty of older insurance offices. Despite the contradictions,
schisms and tensions evident in the capacities of insurance illustrated in
proceeding chapters, McFall reminds us that the seemingly distant and
abstract power and prowess of insurance and insurers remain a concrete
presence within our built environments.
In this summary of the 14 chapters, we have not unpacked a significant feature of this body of work – the entwinning of elements in the coconstitution of insurance. Many authors speak to multiple elements even if we
have categorised them in relation to one. For example, Eriksen and Turnbull
describe the air-borne distribution of radiation from Chernobyl as it is
released from the earth and vegetation through wildfire. Here, air, earth,
and fire combine to produce an uncontainable and uninsurable event well