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), a three-day knowledge-sharing event, aims to increase awareness of Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) 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 will highlight both current and emerging issues, potential innovative solutions, and multisectoral, multiscalar, and transformational approaches to building resilience. The RUP2021 Forum will include learning sessions on use of climate and disaster risk information in designing pro-poor investments for building resilience.