C2R

Cities for a Resilient Recovery

Cities for a Resilient Recovery is a coalition of cities and resilience practitioners committed to taking leadership roles, embedding resilience in recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and supporting each other through the recovery planning process by sharing knowledge, providing subject matter expertise, and facilitating both collective and individual action.

The Resilient Cities Network and its community of Chief Resilience Officers have launched an open, participatory, and collaborative platform where cities can exchange knowledge and learning, identify key actions and initiatives to address the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, and further future-proof their systems in the face of global challenges.

The C2R platform is open both to member cities and to cities outside the Resilient Cities Network.

Why we support cities in their recovery

Over the last six years, our member cities have worked to integrate resilience thinking into their day-to-day city operations, through the appointment of CROs and the development of resilience plans. They are now utilizing and building on this capacity and knowledge, as CROs are taking an active role in their cities’ efforts to fight COVID-19 and are particularly involved in the recovery phase.

Cities are fighting the pandemic against a backdrop of multiple existing shocks and stresses, and emerging vulnerabilities, while striving to put equity, economy, and climate action at the center of their approaches. To address gaps in data, funding, and municipal capacity, cities across the Resilient Cities Network have articulated demand for strengthening collective knowledge sharing, support in their recovery planning through place-based and people-centered methods, and access to international partners to provide support in priority themes.

Explore our evidence

83%

of our member cities are working to embed resilience into their recovery plans.

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79%

of our member cities view enhancing social equity as a top priority for recovery.

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68%

of our member cities believe that platforms for sharing ideas can support them in building their recovery plan.

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Recovery resources

Toolkit for a Resilient Recovery

Characterized by a place-based approach, our toolkit provides a range of agile and evidence-based methodologies to enable cities to plan a resilient recovery. View More

Resilience Fundamentals

The Resilience Fundamentals course is an introduction to resilience frameworks and their application, enabling practitioners to embed resilience thinking into their work and achieve multiple resilience outcomes, effectively “doing more with less.” View More

Cities on the Frontline Speaker Series

Cities on the Frontline is a weekly speaker series started in March 2020, aiming to share knowledge to help cities respond to the pandemic crisis and plan toward recovery with resilience. View More

The Manchester Briefing on COVID-19

The Manchester Briefing shares international lessons and examples to enhance your understanding of how cities around the world are recovering environmentally, economically, and socially from the impacts of COVID-19. View More

Resilient Recovery Community

Cities are on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic, facing unprecedented healthcare, economic, and social crises. The Resilient Recovery Community of Practice is a web-based resource that has emerged from the urgent and ongoing practice exchange between our global network of CROs and other urban experts. View More

How will C2R work?

The C2R platform is based on three pillars:

1.0 Real-time knowledge exchange

To facilitate real-time knowledge exchange between practitioners in cities, R-Cities will collaborate with The World Bank and the University of Manchester to organize:

A global Community of Practice of cities committed to embedding resilience in their recovery planning.
The Coronavirus Speaker Series: Sharing Knowledge to Respond with Resilience, a weekly knowledge-sharing online session for the broader urban community.
Dedicated weekly briefings, through newsletters and online sessions, for urban practitioners working on recovery planning. Briefings will collate international lessons on recovery and examples of resilient recovery from the impacts of COVID-19.
Monthly practice and technical notes on specific themes that support project development.

2.0 Data-driven and systems thinking approaches

C2R will enable data-driven and systems thinking approaches that support cities in understanding and prioritizing the necessary actions and policies to build their future. Together with the community of CROs, we will co-design and identify a Toolkit for Resilient Recovery, with methodologies and tools best suited to plan a resilient recovery, and which can support different stages of the recovery process.

3.0 Resources and expertise

C2R will rally resources and expertise from international organizations, the private sector, and the non-profit sector, and will align them based on cities’ demand for specific priority themes that improve the lives of their most vulnerable urban communities and systems that have been impacted by COVID-19.

Community development and economic resilience: Funding prioritized resilience projects focusing on equity building, through a Resilient Community Impact Fund.
Waste management and circular economy: Strengthening urban sanitation systems and protecting workers in the face of COVID-19, while planning for recovery that will advance the circular economy.
Urban finance and local economies: Supporting cities in strengthening their local SME ecosystems that have been impacted by COVID-19.
Climate resilience: Strengthening cities’ efforts to simultaneously protect vulnerable communities from climate and health threats, including urban heat and cascading crises (for example, hurricane or typhoon preparedness and pandemic preparedness).