I've been hemming and hawing on this one. I think part of it is because to me an urban PSK is just part of a well rounded EDC. It isn't "survival" to me due to the size and weight requirements, but rather "emergency" in the sense of "huh, I didn't plan on this happening today- this sucks". An urban survival kit to me is a get home bag for when the roads aren't going to work, so it has food and water and real shoes in it, along with a good FAK and tools.

A light, knife/SAK/MT (and while I agree with you Jaenette that 95% of the time trauma shears do what is needed, it is that pesky 5% that is why you carry an emergency kit), FAK and whistle cover most of it.

The most important emergency item I can think of is cash- say 50$ in small bills and a few bucks in quarters. I would also consider a water bottle, note pad, pencil, sharpie (even a mini), and if you wear contacts, real glasses to be important additions to your EDC. A poncho or contractor bag never is out of place IMO. Defensive items are always big debate, which I'm not going to get into.

So how much extra space do you have? I would consider basic screw drivers (a straight and a #2 phillips) and a pair of pliers with wire cutters to be core emergency tools, along with stout leather gloves, a bandana/light scarf/hand towel, 2-3' of wire, duct tape and maybe some zip ties. I would also add a spool of dental floss, 20'+ of p-cord (or anything better than mason cord and dental floss- a good 250#, 3mm line isn't super expensive, and you can pack a lot of it into a small space, but you lose the corelines and versatility) and a packet (altoids tin is fine and has space for the wire) with a a couple sewing needles, some good medium-large safety pins, a small binder clip or two, a couple of paper clips, a few hair ties, a thumbtack or two and a couple of small fish hooks and a crimp on weight or two. Maybe a tube of superglue and a bit of electricians tape. A quart freezer bag or two is also very useful.

Remember, this is a set of items that you can use to improvise- a wooden stick when added to a thumb tack and a fish hook, or the dental floss with the hook and weight, becomes a way to retrieve keys that have been dropped. Duct tape can cover a light switch that leads to a light that must NOT be turned on (structural damage leading to dangly wires, a gas leak that could go boom, et al), while bright duct tape and the sharpie leaves a critical note almost anywhere at eyelevel ("gas leak! do not turn on lights! get out!!!"). Dental floss and a needle fixes a loose button. Hair ties can serve for rubber bands, or for holding back long hair. Wire replaces the lost screw for a pair of glasses, or electricians tape for a lost nose piece pad. Pliers grab something hot/sticky/bloody/sharp/et al. Water into a ziplock, adding a pin, gives you the ability to flush dust from eyes. Paracord (if you have enough) can turn into a "follow me" line if you are the only one with a light. Poncho and improvised grommits made with duct tape and safety pins turns into a tarp fast. The bandana or towel is limited to your imagination.

Also nice is a road map of the area and a compass (just has to be good enough to find north), mass transit maps (the car dieing is a "strand you there" emergency as much as EMP), and if you are like me, a small card with a few knots on it.

Fire starting items are a big maybe to me for a UPSK. A small Bic doesn't really add much, so I might toss one in, but for an EDC supliment rather than a get home bag I wouldn't do much more than that or a small ferro rod, simply because what are you going to burn?

Oh, and as someone who has a copy of McCann's book- eh. Read the main part of the ETS web page and you'll get the same kind of data. Ask us, and we'll fill it out.

Forgot one thing, becuase I'm pretty much a single language area- better than a phrase book, Kwikpoints! Probably the wallet sized traveller. If I'm someplace where working english isn't a safe assumption, I grab mine.