Analysing urban resilience: a reality check for a fledgling canon

More than half the world lives in towns and cities that are disproportionately located along locations exposed to climate change such as coasts and rivers. There is a burgeoning body of literature that argues urban resilience is contingent upon decentralised decision-making, structured learning, engaging concurrently with multiple shocks and stresses, getting urban planning right and understanding the political underpinnings of risk and vulnerability. Yet, interviews with policy makers in 13 Asian cities reveal the need for researchers to engage with the relationship between decentralisation and resilience more critically, explore the value of informal learning processes, avoid conflating shocks and stresses, acknowledge the limits of urban planning as an entry point for resilience and lay greater emphasis on the interaction of politics and resilience. As such, this article provides a 'reality check' for research on the topic and suggests directions for the future development of an emerging field of research.