On 28 July, the Secretary-General released a policy brief on the impact of COVID-19 in an Urban World, which notes that cities are at the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for an estimated 90 per cent of cases. However, there is no evidence that urban density per se correlates with higher virus transmission. In fact, most of what has made cities vulnerable is a result of choices about how cities are organised and how people live, work and travel in and around them. The crisis has exposed deep inequalities and showed that tackling the virus is more challenging in urban areas where access to quality healthcare is uneven, housing inadequate, water and sanitation lacking, transport infrastructure patchy and jobs precarious. While local governments play a critical role as front-line responders, they also face a significant financial strain from declining tax revenues. On the other hand, cities are hubs of resilience and human ingenuity, and this crisis has shown how city dwellers can adapt overnight t