Cities are designed for human flourishing. To ensure long-term human flourishing, cities must be resilient and urban development and urbanisation sustainable. As a result of the unprecedent process of urbanisation and urban development in the past three hundred years, cities, mega-cities, and mega-regions have become the predominant forms and places of human settlement, turning our planet into an “Earthopolis”. The growing impact of this process on human societies and our planet; and the accelerating global crises, challenges, and uncertainties have made urban sustainability and resilience more pressing than ever.

Much effort has been devoted to devising modern approaches to sustainability issues. Do historical cities and urban societies and the rich urban heritage these have bestowed upon us have anything significant to offer to our planning, design, governance, and daily operations today on how to make our cities more sustainable and resilient, socially, economically, culturally, and environmentally?