What if the real failure of our time is financing cities for a stable climate that no longer exists and the true system shift begins when urban resilience and planetary health become the core logic of infrastructure investment?

Cities are now the front line of the planetary crisis and the proving ground for solutions. Home to the majority of the world’s population and the epicentre of climate, health, and infrastructure risk, cities can no longer be treated as passive recipients of global policy. They must become active engines of a new system shift, where resilience, health, and prosperity are designed into urban development from the outset.

System Shock or System Shift: Redefining Old Rules and Yesterday’s Tools for Urban Resilience convenes global finance leaders, city practitioners, and planetary health experts to examine how outdated financial, diplomatic, and governance frameworks are locking cities into long-term vulnerability. With over 60% of future infrastructure still unfunded and much of what is built today neither green nor resilient—the session reframes urban resilience from a cost burden into a strategic asset class.

Co-convened by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health and hosted by the Tsao Pao Chee Foundation, the dialogue explores how innovative finance, policy alignment, and cross-sector integration can unlock investment in health-protective, nature-positive urban systems turning capital into a decisive lever for a safer, more resilient urban future.