Disasters and associated shocks and the disruption they cause are a fundamental component of the urban experience. In many cases they can represent an existential threat to the city and its residents. The social construction of risk and the capacity of urban societies to recover from these stressors and shocks and be resilient to them provide foundations for how to analyze the ways in which hazard-related environmental policy transitions can occur. The chapter introduces and utilizes a wide range of factors that mediate this response including (1) understanding of the risk including the level of uncertainty, (2) perception of the risk and the role of cultural and historical factors, and (3) access to resources such as knowledge, financing, and decision-making capacity. Five case examples are introduced. One focuses on riverine flooding (Cedar Rapids, US) and three examine riverine and coastal storm flooding (e.g., Kolkata, India; New Orleans, US; and Rotterdam, the Netherlands). Chronic and increasingly extreme heat exposure and vulnerability are examined in the case of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The analysis demonstrates how deep-seated root drivers such as poverty, inequities, and lack of social cohesion play critical roles in how the environmental transitions and transformations occur.