Urban risk is continually increasing. It has been estimated that, more than 50 per cent of the world’s population is living in urban areas. Urbanization is taking place at an unprecedented rate. In the next 20 years, the world’s population is predicted to increase by an additional two billion. By 2030 more than 60% of the world’s population is expected to live in cities, with record concentrations in large urban conglomerations and megacities in the developing world. Vulnerability of cities to disasters is on the rise especially as poor people settle in high-risk urban areas. Unfortunately, planning and development of cities has given little consideration to the consequences of hazards such as earthquakes, hydro-meteorological risks and others. The implication of this reality is the need for countries to focus their collective energies to create a safer world for urban dwellers and develop a series of innovative approaches to meet this challenge.
In this regard, building resilience and adapting to climate change is crucial for cities and local government. Efforts to build resilience in cities can benefit from integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation with existing efforts in disaster risk reduction and other similar planning processes.

【講演】
Speakers:
• Mikayel Gharakeshishyan (Mayor of Stephanavan city, Armenia)
• Orliber R. Paul (General Manager of Bonifacio Global City Estate Service Corporation, Philippines / or ……. Makati city, Philippines- TBC)
• Park Seoung Joo (Head Urban Safety, Seoul city, Rep.of Korea)
• Estrella Merlos (UNITAR-HQ)

Panel Members:
• Violeta Seva (EMI)
• Bernadia Irawati Tjandradevi (UCLG-ASPAC)
• Dimitra Makrozonari (UNITAR)
• Possibly: Dilanthi Amaratunga (University of Salford-UK) / or Dan Lewis(UNHabitat)/ or CIFAL/JITC-Jeju