Building Back Better - Practice review and knowledge-building for frontier Issues

This document provides a detailed review of the current state of knowledge and frontier issues related to building back better in recovery. The key objectives of this paper are to reflect the breadth and depth of how BBB has come to be understood and made actionable during disaster recovery, and to crystalize and illustrate, drawing on specific case studies, both learnings and outstanding quandaries that warrant concerted attention going forward.

The puzzle is large and complicated, the line between recovery writ large and BBB is not always easy to trace, and BBB approaches are variegated, as are the contexts in which they are applied. The ambition for this paper is not all-encompassing; rather, the document is meant to provide a common framework for dialogue and a basis for further knowledge exchange and collaborative problem-solving via the DRRWG platform on mainstreaming BBB in recovery efforts, with a focus on achievements, as well as gaps in planning and implementation, to advance and accelerate BBB practice.