The increasing frequency, intensity, and unpredictability of shocks and stresses affecting urban areas today, compels local and regional governments around the world to prepare, anticipate, and react to events decisively, in order to provide a livable, safe, healthy, resilient, and sustainable future for their communities. These shocks and stresses are related to a multitude of (often) interdependent and mutually-reinforcing challenges, such as climate change impacts, socio-political conflicts, socio-economic inequalities, biological threats, rapid demographic changes, and technological and environmental pressures that increase the vulnerability of the urban populations. Urbanization exacerbates those risks by concentrating people and assets in areas of potential damage and disruption. Therefore, since over half of the world’s population today lives in urban areas and expecting to reach 70% by 2050, the need to build and enhance urban resilience in cities, towns, and regions is pressing.