Cities are diverse. They are composed of distinctive social relations and particular natural systems. They have varying exposure and changing sensitivity to different internal and external stresses. The people who dwell in them live across multiple time-horizons over which risk and vulnerability may shift. The RMIT Global Cities Research Institute is working to systematically map and compare the insecurities, resilience and sustainability of strategically-chosen cities and hinterlands in the Asia-Pacific region. Particular reference is made to both the impacts of technological and social change brought about by globalization and global climate change on urban communities.

Urbanized regions are places of immense change and innovation. Nevertheless, they are vulnerable to major shocks such as economic crises, terrorism, civil conflict, tsunamis, and disease pandemics. They are also susceptible to the gradual breakdown of basic infra-structural services that provide communications, energy, mobility, and water. In turn, cities are intensifying the resource impacts and environmental damage of their ‘ecological footprints’. They are having an impact upon the social, economic and environmental sustainability of smaller communities through waste disposal, resource demands, the loss of regional services and jobs and associated rural de-population and migration flows. Issues of urban inequality, homelessness and socio-spatial polarization, both between and within urban regions, undermine the social and cultural foundations that underpin democratic institutions and practices. Globalization, at least in its current form, tends to reinforce these trends by accelerating some social changes that degrade the environment, displace families, fragment community identity, and increase inequality and social conflict. Our aim is to determine what might be sustainable and innovative responses to these processes. The following programs provide the organizational structure to our work:

Climate Change Adaptation

How could cities best adapt to the anticipated impacts of global warming? This program explores new solutions for infrastructure, methods of communication and transport—just to name a few of the possible adaptive responses.

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Globalization and Culture

How can cities most adequately respond to the impact of globalization on cultural identity and civic orientation? Here we are particularly concerned to understand the intensification and expansion of cultural flows through globalizing cities and their regions.

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Community Sustainability

What is the impact of social change on communities? Our research works from the ground up and is motivated by the pressing need to understand how local communities are currently negotiating the challenges and opportunities of globalization.

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Urban Infrastructure

How can cities sustainably respond to the increasing demands on infrastructure? This program primarily addresses social and environmental sustainability in cities experiencing global economic forces.

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Human Security

How can cities harness their immense resources to cope with crises? This theme focuses on the pathways for recovering from conflict, building resilience and reducing disaster vulnerability.

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Learning Cities

What are the key processes involved in learning about social change? Here we focus firstly on the impact of the globalization of higher education, and secondly on the capacities and possibilities for cities to engage in sustainable learning.

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UN Global Compact Cities

The United Nations Global Compact Cities Programme seeks to translate the overarching 10 principles of the UN Global Compact into innovative, concrete and sustainable solutions to intractable economic, social and environmental urban issues. The Programme achieves these outcomes by identifying, harnessing, focusing and applying existing local capacity within business, government and civil society.

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