About Daring Cities

Since 2020, Daring Cities has brought together leaders from around the world to take on the climate emergency

The climate emergency is happening right now, in our cities, towns and regions around the world. Our global leaders are struggling to address this urgent crisis. But the daring actions of local leaders are spreading around the globe.

Created by ICLEI and the Federal City of Bonn, Daring Cities is an action-oriented initiative to recognize and empower courageous urban leaders – including mayors and other decision-makers, technical staff, researchers, private sector representatives, and community organizers – to disrupt business-as-usual and shift towards business-as-possible. Daring Cities showcases and catalyzes exemplary local climate action to tackle the climate emergency, including ambitious resilience-building and climate mitigation efforts.

A decade of success: The Resilient Cities Congress

Daring Cities builds upon the experience and network established during the Resilient Cities Congresses convened annually from 2010 to 2019 by ICLEI and the Federal City of Bonn.

Resilient Cities gathered urban practitioners, policy makers and researchers working in urban resilience and climate change adaptation. It built an active, informed, and committed community and played a key role in mainstreaming urban resilience in global agreements and processes.

During the 10 years of the Congress, thousands of experts from over 80 countries actively participated in and collaborated on hundreds of capacity-building sessions.