The being of urban resilience

The nature of urban risk and disasters is changing. For the first time in human history, more people live in cities than in rural areas. Recent figures from the United Nations estimate that 6.3 billion people – 68 per cent of the world’s population – will be living in urban areas by 2050 (UN 2018; UN- Habitat 2017). Many of these growing cities are located on the coast or in other hazardous areas that are increasingly threatened by floods, storms, earthquakes, fires, heat or cold waves and drought (IPCC 2014). As urban corridors continue to be built in areas where hazards are commonplace, more and more people will be living with the continual threat of environ-mental upheaval and climate change. [Michael A. Burayidi.The Routledge Handbook of Urban Resilience