The risk identification, assessment and reduction are indispensable steps on the way of the sustainable development of the countries. Risk assessment requires a multidisciplinary approach that takes into account not only the expected physical damage, the number and type of casualties or the economic losses, but also other social, organizational and institutional factors that contribute to risk. At urban level, for example, vulnerability should be related not only to the physical susceptibility of buildings and infrastructure, but also to the social fragility and the lack of resilience of the exposed community. The absence of institutional and community organization, weak preparedness for emergency response, political instability and lack of economic health, which are development problems, contribute to increasing of risk in a geographical area. This article presents and applies a methodology for evaluating risk in urban center using a holistic approach. A multidisciplinary estimation of risk to guide the decision making, that takes into account geophysical and structural aspects, and also social, economic, institutional variables, among others, is considered here as holistic approach, involving all the aspects and comprehensive. The paper includes four case studies, the cities of: Barcelona, Spain; Bogota and Manizales, Colombia; and MetroManila, The Philippines. 1 THE HOLISTIC APPROACH Risk is not only associated with the occurrence of intense physical phenomena, but also with the vulnerability conditions that favor or facilitate disasters when these phenomena occur. Vulnerability is related to social processes in disaster prone areas and is also usually related to the fragility, susceptibility or lack of resilience of the population when faced with various hazards. In other words, disasters are socio-environmental by nature and their occurrence is the result of socially created risk. This means that in order to reduce disaster risk, society must embark in a decision making processes. This process is not only required during the reconstruction phase immediately following a disaster, but should also be a part of overall national public policy formulation Martha L. Carreno, Omar D. Cardona, Dora C. Suarez, Alex H. Barbat. 2 and development planning. This, in turn, requires institutional strengthening and investments in reducing vulnerability to support the sustainable development of countries. An appropriate multidisciplinary risk evaluation by means of composite indicators can be a risk communication tool for decision-makers and stakeholders to achieve effective risk reduction. Cardona (2001) developed a conceptual framework and a model for seismic risk analysis of a city from a holistic perspective. It considers both “hard” and “soft” risk variables of the urban centre, taking into account exposure, socio-economic characteristics of the different localities (units) of the city and their disaster coping capacity or degree of resilience. The model was made to guide the decision-making in risk management, helping to identify the critical zones of the city and their vulnerability from different professional disciplines. Figure 1 shows the theoretical framework of the holistic approach.