Resilient Cities 2011, the second world congress on Cities and Adaptation to Climate Change, took place from 3-5 June 2011 in Bonn, Germany, ahead of the UNFCCC Bonn Climate Talks.

The conference concluded that to cover the shortfall of finance for urban adaptation, there needs to be a change in global financing systems from the current top-down approach to a locally orientated demand-driven approach. The conference contended that an inversion of global adaptation financing is needed.

A white paper on „Financing the Resilient City‟ was launched at the congress. It identifies shortfalls in the global funding structures for adaptation and sets out innovative ways to overcome them.

The white paper also put forward the idea that financing mechanisms have to be broadened to allow for more private investments in addition to existing global climate funds.

Over 30 mayors discussed the adaptation and financing challenges that their cities are facing with Andrew Steer of the World Bank, Christiana Figueres of the UNFCCC, UN-HABITAT‟s Joan Clos and Michel Liès of SwissRe, at the Mayors Adaptation Forum that is part of the Resilient Cities congress.