Four PhD students from very different backgrounds, institutes, and countries found themselves debating why they had such different perspectives on urban resilience during the International Resilience Conference (Arizona State University, March 2011).

A few months later, one of them proposed that they organize an international workshop in order to address the various meanings and perspectives of resilience thinking as applied to urban systems and set a common research framework. In November 2011, they held the First International Workshop on Urban Resilience in Barcelona, and based on its success they edited a book and launched a network of researchers interested in this discussion.

In 2012 the first book entitled “Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Urban Resilience” was published and the Urban Resilience Research Network blog was launched.

Thanks to more than 5k downloads of their book in the first year alone, and the growing number of mailing list members from across the globe, in 2016 a new website for the Urban Resilience Research Network was launched. The website now includes contributions from top scholars who offer critical perspectives on the most urgent and challenging aspects of urban resilience theory and practice.

However, we see this as only the beginning. We are always looking for new scholars to contribute to our blog and urban resilience research advances.