Across the world, urban areas are on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cities are experiencing unprecedented strain across social, economic and environmental systems. At the same time, cities offer among the most promising opportunities to respond to the crisis with speed and impact while building a more sustainable and resilient future.

As governments and communities consider adaptations to keep cities moving and stimulus investments to build back better, how can cities not only be more resilient to public health crises, but more equitable, more sustainable, and more livable for all?

WRI offers research and evidence, expert insights, analytics, and stakeholder convening to help policymakers, business leaders and others build back better in ways that grow economies, create jobs, curb climate change and improve public health. Learn more about our urban work below and explore WRI’s broader COVID-19 response on wri.org, including the #BuildBackBetter webinar series.

Investing in an Equitable Recovery

More than $16 trillion has already been committed by governments and international agencies in response to COVID-19. Decisions made on how to spend these funds will determine the trajectory of urban development for years to come. WRI is helping city and national leaders identify strategic interventions that achieve both short-term and long-term goals.

Manish Babpna, Helen Mountford, Li Fang, Dan Lashof, Wanjira Mathai and Anjali Mahenda on stimulus packages to create jobs and foster inclusive, sustainable economic growth

The pandemic has exacerbated underlying social and economic inequalities with immediate impacts on the poorest and most marginalized in both big and small cities. More than 1 billion people live in slums and informal settlements globally. As much as 50-80% of employment in developing cities is informal, from street vendors to minibus drivers to migrant workers. Many of these families are essentially surviving day-to-day, living in dense neighborhoods with unreliable and often shared access to basic services like water, sanitation and electricity. Many don’t have bank accounts, basic employment contracts or insurance. Their incomes and workplaces are not on any government agency’s radar. And in many places, they are suffering most from the pandemic – both in terms of health and economic impacts. The World Bank estimates that some 150 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty globally during the pandemic, the first such increase in 20 years.

As governments seek to recover, these underlying inequalities must be taken into account in order to build back better. WRI is helping governments prioritize solutions that address equity and climate change together. In India, WRI is working with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to track and learn from local responses to the pandemic. Globally, The World Resources Report: Towards a More Equal City, a flagship research project from WRI, provides a blueprint for transformational change. Without better access to core services for all residents, cities cannot achieve the higher quality of life, economic productivity and environmental sustainability that we all desire. The report’s accumulated knowledge on what works, presented in the synthesis report, from water and sanitation to urban land use, housing and the informal economy, can help guide decision-making during this crucial window. Many projects and organizations that submitted to the 2020-2021 WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities are responding to COVID and utilizing their unique approaches to find new ways forward (support their relief efforts here) and the 2021-2022 Prize cycle will spotlight projects showing how to thrive in turbulent times.

Ani Dasgupta and Rogier van den Berg on the imperative for more resilient, inclusive, low-carbon cities

The Coalition for Urban Transitions, jointly managed by WRI Ross Center and C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, is helping national governments take concrete steps toward a green urban recovery. The Economic Case for Greening the Global Recovery Through Cities provides actionable recommendations focused on the “what” and “how” of a green recovery. Co-authored with prominent experts from the African Centre for Cities, Economic Change Unit, International Centre for Climate Change and Development, LSE Cities, OECD, and Vivid Economics, it identifies seven priority areas for investment by national governments that can rapidly create and protect millions of jobs and deliver quick, durable, and inclusive economic, health and environmental benefits. Seizing the Urban Opportunity focuses on six major emerging economies: China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa. The report finds that the six countries could collectively cut emissions by up to 96% from key urban sectors (buildings, transport, materials use, and waste) by 2050, lead to $12 trillion in economic returns based on cost savings alone and deliver millions of new jobs.

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Sustainable and Safe Transport

Urban transport networks are being transformed by the pandemic. Motor vehicle traffic of all kinds has plunged. Public transport is experiencing major financial challenges, even as it serves a crucial role in connecting essential workers to their jobs. The sustainability, affordability and equity of urban transport will be affected by how public transport weathers this storm.

Sergio Avelleda, Adriana Lobo, Daizong Liu and Ben Welle on public transport and recovery

WRI is working with cities to ensure passenger safety but also the long-term viability of public transportation networks. Integrated bus, rail and bike systems can create and maintain jobs more quickly than other transportation investments and offer wider benefits to society as well as drive more equitable access to jobs, education and services.

Biking and walking has in fact increased in many places during the pandemic. Many cities have been aggressive in installing pop-up bike lanes and wider sidewalks to facilitate these shifts and encourage alternatives to public transportation. As cities implement these changes, WRI is guiding decision-makers on safe design principles and inclusive planning. WRI’s Low-Speed Zone Guide presents strategies for planning, designing, building, and evaluating low-speed zones in cities. The guide equips communities and decision-makers with the tools they need to implement low-speed zones that will suit their specific context. Similarly, our Safe Bicycle Lane Design Principles Guidebook provides straightforward recommendations on creating a safe and sustainable system from temporary bike lanes. The Vision Zero Challenge, working with cities in Latin America and the Caribbean, has pivoted to provide immediate technical assistance. And WRI India is working with the city of Kochi and the national government on safe operations measures for bus and metro systems, as well as the city of Bengaluru on pop-up bike lanes.

NUMO, the New Urban Mobility Alliance, hosted at WRI Ross Center, is working with cities like Detroit and Bogotá to enable safe mobility for essential workers and vulnerable communities. By collaborating with local service providers and city officials, they are enabling rapid, data-driven responses and connecting key stakeholders. NUMO is also working with the U.S. Congress and major transit agencies to support vital infrastructure investment and safe operations nationally.

The 'Resilience & Transportation' seminar series, by NUMO and partners

NUMO is co-hosting the Resilience & Transportation webinar series and tracking mobility responses to the pandemic through the COVID Mobility Works, which has collected over 500 responses from nearly 250 cities. Updated monthly, the COVID Mobility Works catalogues public, private and nongovernmental actions ranging from novel approaches to safe movement for essential workers to identifying modifications to critical infrastructure.

In February 2021, Transforming Transportation 2021, the largest gathering of global sustainable mobility leaders focused on developing countries, went all virtual for the first time and featured more than 22,000 participants. To learn more about reimagining safe and resilient mobility for cities everywhere, watch the archived sessions at transformingtransportation.org.

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High Stakes for Clean Air

Jessica Seddon, Beatriz Cárdenas and Tim Searchinger on transformations needed for clean air

COVID-19 has brought the clean air stakes into sharp relief. Slowdowns in movement, manufacturing and power generation have provided a fleeting glimpse of a clean air future in some places. But the pandemic has also highlighted the far-reaching health implications of living with air pollution, as asthma and other health conditions increase vulnerability to the disease. Without setting ourselves on a new trajectory, we risk coming back to a world of even dirtier air and populations even more vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution.

WRI is helping cities to better understand the sources of air pollution and creating innovative coalitions to address them. Clean Air Catalyst, a new flagship program with The U.S. Agency for International Development and Environmental Defense Fund, is offering a globally applicable approach to developing locally tailored, self-reliant solutions that cut air pollution and improve human health in cities. Our partnership brings together diverse local stakeholders to address critical information gaps, to build confidence and trust in air pollution information and to advance and institutionalize lasting solutions.

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More COVID-19 Resources from Partners:

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As we learn more about COVID-19 and its effects on cities, we are continually adapting our work to meet the needs of people and the planet. 

For more information about how to work with our experts, please contact us.

COVID-19 Facts

  1. 124 million people are projected to be pushed into extreme poverty by the pandemic.
  2. Public transit ridership has plummeted to historic lows.
  3. At least $16 trillion in global fiscal stimulus spending has been announced by national governments.
  4. Biking has doubled and tripled in some cities, from Beijing to Philadelphia.

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