Resilience and vulnerability are two distinct but highly interdependent concepts useful for understanding the systems and territorial actors` response to change and unexpected shocks. There are both used in risk assessments, but also in evaluations of the adaptability and transformability of biophysical, social or economic systems. The paper makes a short, but comprehensive analysis of the concepts of vulnerability and resilience applied within the context of Romanian cities, highly complex systems that had to face multiple challenges in the last two decades either general (such as economic crises, climate change, natural and technological hazards) or urban specific (deindustrialisation, polarisation capacity loss, social segregation, emigration, urban sprawl etc.). Using and adapting a large, but rather eclectic scientific literature and methodologies, the current approach is a preliminary attempt to highlight the main indicators of urban performance in managing different disturbances. Case studies, i.e. two important cities in North - Eastern region of Romania - Iași and Bacău, are being analysed in order to evaluate individual responses of institutions and communities to specific hazards and long- term crises that have an impact on social, economic and ecological urban subsystems. The overall purpose is to propose a framework that could make possible the integration of vulnerability and resilience within the strategic plans of urban sustainable development.