Guide on Connecting Green Recovery and Resilience in Cities

The impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the cities have been enormous on all accounts. Dealing with the recovery process from the pandemic is a monumental effort for many local governments and their cities, especially in terms of the additional strain they place on municipal finances and capacities.

The Resilient Cities Action Package 2021 (ReCAP21) is built on the idea that the climate and resilience lens should be mainstreamed to the recovery process from the COVID-19 pandemic. The main purpose of ReCAP21 is to provide technical and capacity building support to local governments in the Global South that will make an impact in fundamentally shifting the traditional economic recovery planning processes towards transformations that ensure holistic resilience. Within the backdrop of this overarching objective, local governments are better able to design and implement plans and measures for a resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This guide outlines three key entry points for local governments to move towards an urban transformation and a resilient recovery process, which is also green in nature. Altogether, these entry points provide local governments with the practical support to identify comprehensive solutions that range from finance and physical interventions to cultural practices and governance arrangements that may contribute to achieving more resilient societies.

The first key entry point proposes five practical Tools for Cities that cover topics from harmonizing local government’s urban strategies to developing tailored risk assessments and climate-resilient interventions. The second key entry point is highlighted in the National – Local Dialogues and the Resilient Recovery: Insights from the Field. The ‘National – Local Dialogues’ showcase practical examples of how multilevel governance can be fostered through the implementation of local dialogues in Rwanda and Bangladesh. The ‘Insights from the Field’ demonstrate four cases in which the resilience assessment tools have been implemented in different settings and urban contexts. The third entry point is showcased in the Transformative Action Program (TAP) which supports local governments in exploring project opportunities and accessing finance for their implementation.