#LAConversa: Let’s Talk About Urban Resilience is a collaboration between LA Network and Resilient Cities Network created with the objective of starting conversations about the main problems that Latin American and Caribbean cities face today. These conversations took place with the participation of seven cities, Ciudad Juárez, Colima, Mexico City, Panama City, Medellín, Quito and Montevideo and one state authority from the State of Jalisco.

It is estimated that the duration of school closure due to the pandemic has been significantly longer in Latin America than in other regions such as Europe, Africa and Asia, increasing negative effects on education in the region - there is a huge challenge regarding the reopening of schools. This seventh dialogue counted with the presence of two cities - Bogotá and Buenos Aires; and two national governments in Latin America - Costa Rica and Uruguay.

The health emergency has profoundly transformed the relationship between citizens and their streets, services and public spaces - contemporary public spaces should no longer be understood as isolated places but rather as a public and continuous network that provides access and connection to the different elements that shape cities. This sixth dialogue counted with the presence of three cities in Latin America - Bogotá, Colima and Puerto Escondido.

There is an urgent need to maximize the capacities of the digital ecosystem in Latin America and the Caribbean, so it becomes an effective tool to fight Covid-19 and turns into a solid foundation for building more resilient urban communities. This fifth dialogue counted with the presence of three cities in the region - Salvador, Fortaleza and Recife.

The City Water Resilience Approach responds directly to the need to tackle the challenges of urban water stresses in cities in Africa. It takes a comprehensive perspective to urban water systems, and sets out to assess the resilience of the water a city depends on, including upstream and downstream catchment issues.

In the last few months, we have been coping with a pandemic that challenges our society, and as every crisis does, accelerates change and transforms processes to adapt and overcome it. These changes are happening in the management of governments at every level, in urban planning, in the private sector, and, of course, in our daily-life dynamics, and evidence-based data has become a fundamental factor in decision making.

COVID-19 has truly accelerated the digital transformation of cities. Not only are many people working from home and increasingly reliant on IT, city governments have had to shift how they deliver services under lockdown restrictions. Yet, despite efforts to rapidly digitize processes and systems, a city cannot truly become technologically inclusive without considering barriers to access. Organizations themselves have also had to radically change the way they operate and engage with partners digitally.

Montevideo, Uruguay recently reached the milestone of beginning implementation of more than 85% of the 40 initiatives identified in its Resilience Strategy, which the city released in September of 2018. The City offers two urban resilience essentials to this success.