Abstract: Peri-urban areas are typically associated with high growth regions that have witnessed rapid landscape changes on the peripheries of metropolitan and urban areas with a particular focus on high amenity areas. These former rural lands adjacent to the edges of urban areas into which they would typically expands or influences have been described as peri-urban areas (‘peri’: around, about or beyond) (Buxton et al, 2006). The distinctive landscape changes have been the result of a peri-urbanisation process which has been characterised as a dynamic urbanising process that can involve the closer subdivision, fragmentation and land use conversation of former rural lands. It involves high levels of non metropolitan growth and results in a blurred transitional zone comprised of temporary mixes of urban and rural activities and functions with no apparent order. The resulting peri-urban land use activities exhibit a high degree of heterogeneity, continual change and conflicting values Low Choy et al, 2007). Using two case studies of recent and rapid peri-urbanisation (namely South East Queensland and greater Melbourne, the fastest growing metropolitan regions in Australia), this paper considers if this process can lead to resilient landscapes capable of withstanding future potential environmental and socio-economic shocks and surprises – it asks the question: how resilient are peri-urban landscapes? In particular, it explores the planning and management initiatives that need to be considered to ensure that existing metropolitan periurban landscapes maintain their adaptive capacity and do not exceed their resilience thresholds. This includes consideration of the dynamic interactions between socio-economic and biophysical processes operating over multiple scales with respect to the resilience of urban ecosystems.