Urban resilience has become one of the major catch phrases in climate-related policymaking and research throughout the last decade. This paper adopts a perspective of international political sociology to critically interrogate the ways in which urban resilience has been mobilized by different actors for their particular purposes.
It employs the concept of assemblages as an ontological principle as well as a methodological tool, which renders evident the mutual constitution of actors, institutions and technologies of urban resilience. Specifically, it focuses on how transnational bureaucracies, local governments and private companies have contributed to what I term a 'resilience paradox'.