Urban resilience: between tradition, crisis response, and global change

Christa Reicher; Javier Ostos Prieto; Fabio Bayro Kaiser

doi:10.4995/vlc.2025.24112

Urban resilience: between tradition, crisis response, and global change

Christa Reicher

https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0107-5226

Germany

RWTH Aachen University

Prof. Christa Reicher is Head of the Chair of Urban Design, the UNESCO Chair for Cultural Heritage and Urbanism, and the Institute for Urban Design and European Urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture, RWTH Aachen University in Aachen, Germany. Prior to this, she was Professor for Urban Design and Land Use Planning at the Faculty of Spatial Planning at TU Dortmund University and for Urban Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Bochum. Christa Reicher is founder of the architecture and urban planning office “RHA REICHER HAASE” in Aachen and in Dortmund. Most recent publications: City building block living (2022); Urban Design (2022); Transformation and Mixing: Urban planning in transition (2021); Handbook of energy efficiency in the neighbourhood: Supply, convert, activate in a clever way (2021); City under Pressure! Climate change and cultural heritage (2021).

Javier Ostos Prieto

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9551-3946

Germany

RWTH Aachen University

Architect (2017) by Seville University. Master in Architecture and Historical Heritage (2018) and Master in Urbanism, Planning and Urban Design (2020) by Seville University. Doctor in Architecture by Seville University and Doktor der Ingenieurwissenschaften by RWTH Aachen University (2024). Joint Thesis Agreement between the University of Seville and the RWTH Aachen University.

Fabio Bayro Kaiser

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4839-5991

Germany

RWTH Aachen University

(Dr.-Ing.) Fabio Bayro Kaiser is a research associate at the Chair and Institute of Urban Design, Faculty of Architecture, RWTH Aachen University and an Associate at RHA Reicher Haase.

Submitted: 2025-06-11

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Accepted: 2025-08-25

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Published: 2025-10-31

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4995/vlc.2025.24112

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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The UNESCO World Heritage Site Zollverein in Essen (Fabio Bayro Kaiser, 2020).

Keywords:

urban resilience, sustainability transitions, urbanity, tradition and modernisation, co-production

Supporting agencies:

This research was not funded

Abstract:

Contemporary cities face the acute challenge of balancing competing imperatives: preserving cultural identity while enabling transformation; responding to crises while fostering opportunity; and respecting tradition while embracing modernisation. Rather than choosing between the past and the future, this paper examines how these tensions can be navigated by approaching cities as opportunities to be shaped through culturally rooted, adaptive, and forward-looking planning. The study draws on research, teaching, and fieldwork organised in five thematic clusters. Grounded in the interconnected concepts of urbanity, resilience, and innovative practices, it employs a comparative, interdisciplinary, and multi-scalar methodology. On this basis, the paper argues that urban resilience is cultivated where memory, participation, and innovation intersect. Key insights highlight the value of tradition-informed design for long-term transformation, the potential of co-production and experimentation for sustainability transitions, and the importance of global-local learning for equitable adaptation. The paper concludes that designing for resilience requires an approach that addresses complexity across temporal, spatial, and institutional dimensions through sustained partnerships between planners, policymakers, and stakeholder communities.

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