“Build back Better” is the phrase of the year. But better than what? And to what end? It is generally taken to mean better than where we were before COVID by using the recovery to enhance a few systemically broken issues in order to take us to a better place. But what ... or where ... is that? In this article for the Scotsman Newspaper, Prof Brian Evans considers the forces influencing our cities as they struggle to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate emergency.