The symposium brings together a group of urban and planning historians and urban studies
scholars from Asia and other regions to the University of Hong Kong to explore the issues of
urban resilience and crisis management of historical and contemporary cities and urban
regions in Asia and other part of the world during periods of public health emergencies,
natural and climate-related disasters, social and cultural crises, economic uncertainties, and
war and international conflicts. Speakers will approach the theme from the perspectives of
urban planning and design, urban governance and policy, and daily operations, and analyse
successes and failures in how cities have prepared for and handled crises, orchestrated
post-crises restoration, and initiated systemic and structural changes. We hope that this
symposium will contribute to a broader and deeper understanding of how historical and
contemporary cities and urban regions have learned to develop systems, structures, strategies,
and capacity through multilevel and cross-sectoral engagement and collaboration for
improving risk-assessment, disaster-prevention, and emergency-preparedness to more
effectively pre-empt, manage, and recover from a wide range of crises. We also hope that the
symposium will contribute to reflections on planning and design, governance and policy, and
different functions of cities to achieve better urban institutional, public health,
social-economic, cultural, and environmental and climate resilience and sustainability.