Organised as part of the UN-Habitat initiative Urban October, the IHS Urban Research Day 2026 brought together researchers, practitioners, and students to discuss how cities can locally respond to the global polycrisis. In the face of growing negative effects of climate change on vulnerable communities, increasing social inequality, and rampant urbanisation, how can we still build more resilient, equitable and liveable urban futures in cities across the world?
Integrated and collaborative frameworks for the urban polycrisis
The first session focused on the need for integrated approaches to understanding and responding to increasingly complex urban challenges. Shuaib Lwasa from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) presented research on knowledge co-production and urban resilience, arguing that many existing resilience frameworks remain limited by their tendency to categorise cities as either resilient or vulnerable after crises occur. His work together with a wide network of collaborators in Africa called for a more holistic understanding of urban systems, emphasising how resilience can be understood through collaborative processes that bring together diverse forms of knowledge and lived experience.
Building on this systemic perspective, Lucas Snaije and David Dodman examined urban governance in the context of climate overshoot. Their presentation highlighted the implications of a world exceeding the 1.5°C warming threshold and explored how cities can navigate increasingly uncertain futures. The research underscored the need for governance approaches that simultaneously address mitigation, adaptation, resilience and climate justice, while remaining sufficiently flexible to respond to rapidly evolving climate risks.
The polycrisis in cities before and after major events
The second parallel session explored how crises manifest in specific urban contexts and how their impacts are experienced spatially and socially. Drawing on the case of Morocco, Sondos Derbani, a PhD researcher at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), examined the paradox of building resilient cities through vulnerable labour. Her research focuses on construction sites as spaces where climate pressures, labour precarity and fragmented governance intersect, revealing how the broader urban polycrisis is often borne by workers operating at the frontlines of urban transformation.
Salma Elrouby from the University of Warwick presented a framework for understanding the spatial implications of urban crises in post-pandemic cities. Her research demonstrated how crises, and the policies introduced to address them, reshape urban spaces in ways that are frequently overlooked by traditional analysis. Both presentations reinforced the relevance of recognising both the human and spatial dimensions of urban crises, particularly when designing policies intended to support equitable urban development.
Impact-driven research for more liveable urban environments
The afternoon sessions shifted attention toward practical interventions and research designed to locally improve urban liveability and sustainability. Charmae Nercua showcased the Nurturing transformative capacities, innovation in nature-based solutions, and harmonious resilience in rural areas (NURISH) project and an innovative stakeholder mapping approach developed to support nature-based solutions (NBS) in European rural living labs. By explicitly recognising both human and non-human stakeholders, the methodology strengthens collaborative governance and supports the long-term stewardship of ecosystems, contributing to climate resilience and regenerative development.
Yixin Cao from Department of Water and Climate (HYDR), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, presented her research on urban water governance focusing on stream daylighting in Brussels. Her work demonstrated how restoring buried waterways can serve not only environmental objectives but also foster more participatory forms of governance through citizen science, living labs and basin-scale planning tools.
Completing the session, Lasse Gerrits explored urban densification strategies through the concept of "Tetris Urbanism". Drawing lessons from Taiwan and the Netherlands, the presentation examined how infill development, top-up construction and carefully paced densification can help cities accommodate growth while balancing pressures on urban space and infrastructure. Taken together, these contributions highlighted how applied research can inform concrete actions that improve environmental quality, governance and urban liveability.
Recipes of urban resilience between theory and practice
The final set of presentations bridged conceptual frameworks and real-world implementation. Adrienne Acioly from the Municipality of Rotterdam introduced a governance-of-governance framework for urban climate resilience. Using Rotterdam as a case study, the research argues that infrastructure vulnerabilities often reflect deeper governance challenges. By examining connections between infrastructure systems and institutional arrangements, the study proposes pathways for moving from reactive responses toward more transformative forms of resilience.
A complementary perspective was offered by Pia Runge and Moritz Kasper from the German Environment Agency, who reflected on the AdNEB II project. Their work emphasises the need for integrative approaches that connect socio-ecological and spatial dimensions of urban development across multiple scales. Framed by the principles of the European Green Deal and the New European Bauhaus (NEB), the presentation illustrated how sustainability, inclusion and aesthetics can be pursued simultaneously through coordinated urban action. Together, the session presentations demonstrated that addressing the urban polycrisis requires both robust theoretical frameworks and practical governance mechanisms capable of bringing diverse actors and scales together.
From local knowledge to global action: reflections from the closing panel
The day concluded with a panel discussion titled “Connecting urban action across scales: Making community knowledge, research and global commitments actionable in times of polycrisis." Moderated by Pamela Durán-DÃaz, the discussion brought together Charmae Pyl Wissink-Nercua, Lucas Snaije and Shuaib Lwasa. A recurring theme throughout the panel discussion was the importance of community-centred knowledge production. Through a powerful example from the Philippine island of Siargao, Charmae Pyl Wissink-Nercua illustrated how creative participatory methods can help communities articulate shared concerns and aspirations to satisfy local needs. The story demonstrated that meaningful action often emerges when people are given space to collectively reflect on their experiences, rather than simply respond to externally defined research agendas. Building on this perspective, Shuaib Lwasa further elaborated that local knowledge should not merely inform policy but that is has to be recognised as an essential component of urban governance. Drawing on his decade-long experience across cities in the Global South, he emphasised that informal systems and community-driven solutions already play critical roles in housing, mobility, livelihoods and service delivery. The discussion also examined how local experiences connect to global climate agendas. Reflecting on the legacy of the Paris Agreement and contemporary climate action, Lucas Snaije highlighted the increasingly important role of cities in advancing climate responses.
In their closing reflections, the panelists converged around three key main messages:
- Cities are dynamic and context-specific;
- Listening to diverse voices remains fundamental to effective urban action;
- Stronger forms of city-to-city learning can help bridge the gap between global ambitions and local realities.
Rather than viewing urban challenges through rigid hierarchies, the discussion highlighted the value of collaboration across scales and the need to recognise communities, city governments and researchers as joint partners in shaping more just and resilient urban futures. Above all, the day reinforced a central message: meaningful urban transformation depends on our ability to connect knowledge across scales, bringing together community experience, scientific research and policy action to create solutions that are both locally grounded and globally relevant.
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