Coming Back Stronger

This report advocates for a city-led infrastructure agenda in the United States to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic while aligning with a 1.5°C warming limit. It outlines priority investments across six sectors: access and mobility, buildings, power, broadband, water, and natural systems, arguing that cities are the most effective vehicles for delivering these 'future-proof' projects to create jobs and reduce social inequality.

• The report proposes a city-driven infrastructure agenda across six specific sectors to ensure a cleaner and more equitable recovery: Access and Mobility (prioritizing transit, mobility alternatives, and vehicle electrification); Buildings (focusing on deep retrofits for schools, affordable housing, and commercial buildings, and all-electric new construction); Power (retiring coal and deploying clean energy via grid upgrades and regulatory reform); Broadband (expanding affordable access through competition and public-private partnerships); Water (providing clean drinking water, replacing lead service lines, and managing drought and flood risk); and Natural Systems (protecting 'green infrastructure' as an alternative to 'grey infrastructure' and ensuring access to green space).
• Investing in 'future-proof' infrastructure is presented as a means to generate jobs, facilitate economic recovery, address social inequalities, accelerate the clean energy transition, and increase community resilience against existing climate instability.
• Cities are identified as critical actors in the infrastructure process because they drive innovation, serve as effective channels for economic stimulus, and possess a deeper understanding of citizen needs than other government levels.

APA

RMI (2020). Coming Back Stronger. https://rmi.org/resources/coming-back-stronger/

Chicago

RMI. Coming Back Stronger. 2020. https://rmi.org/resources/coming-back-stronger/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Coming Back Stronger |date=24 November 2020 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/coming-back-stronger/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2020coming, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Coming Back Stronger}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/coming-back-stronger/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }