The emerging emphasis on disaster risk reduction has broadened the range of experts whose
knowledge must be garnered to resolve complex socio-technical challenges. This paper examines
the role and position of the construction sector for addressing these concerns. Specifically, it
examines the recursive nature of practices within the built environment, which can be seen as
deeply ingraining fragmented approaches to the development process. These, in turn, render the
industry a difficult arena within which to enact structural and cultural change. Based on a wide
body of literature on resiliency a set of overarching principles are proffered to help inform efforts
to overcome some of the barriers to creating a more resilient built environment. It is argued that
these principles offer a point of departure for embedding resilience considerations at both project
and institutional levels, although real change would demand challenging some of the conventions
that currently underpin construction development
