In the context of global climate change and continuous urbanization, enhancing urban resilience is an important way to improve emergency management capacity and achieve sustainable development of urban system. It is of great significance to clarify the connotations, key elements and core mechanisms of resilient cities, measure and simulate the resilience of urban systems, improve urban resilience in changing environment, and mitigate the risks of environmental change to urban stability. Based on literature and document analysis, this paper comprehensively analyzes the core concepts of resilient cities and their construction, management and research practices in various countries. Moreover, from the perspective of urban complex system, the impact mechanism, measurement method and system simulation of the environmental change in urban system are explored. It provides reference for the theoretical, methodological and empirical research of resilient cities, the decision-making basis and policy suggestions for the practice of building resilient cities in China.