Building the resilience of the urban poor is a critical issue for rapidly urbanizing countries in Asia and the Pacific. Cities and other urban areas are major drivers of national economies and home to an increasing urban poor population who are significantly contributing to productivity, both in the formal and informal sectors, to achieve national development goals. However, natural hazards and climate change threaten these goals and may erode the gains that have already been achieved.

The impacts of climate change are expected to worsen in the coming years and decades, and the effects that these have on urban residents—particularly the poor—will be shaped by decisions and investments made now. The Resilience for the Urban Poor Forum (RUP2021 Forum) aimed to increase awareness of ADB’s developing member countries on disaster and climate risk-related issues and challenges faced by the urban poor, and identify opportunities for scaling up pro-poor policies and investments to strengthen the resilience of the urban poor. It highlighted both current and emerging issues, potential innovative solutions and financing, and multisectoral, multi-scalar, and transformational approaches to building resilience.

The RUP2021 Forum included learning sessions on the use of disaster and climate risk information in designing pro-poor investments for building resilience. The RUP2021 Forum was organized by Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Division and Social Development Thematic Group, in collaboration with Urban Sector Group, under Advancing Inclusive and Resilient Urban Development Targeted at the Urban Poor, with funding support from Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund.