Public works has traditionally been deployed as a strong short-term measure to counteract the economic vulnerability of the poor with the creation of community assets as an additional goal. The focus of public works has so far mostly been on rural areas. With the severe economic impact of Covid-19 on the urban poor, adoption of an urban labour-intensive public works (LIPW) programme has become an important policy option. The World Bank is supporting the Government of Bangladesh in rolling out a Covid response recovery program through urban local governments with a major emphasis on urban LIPW. PPRC had undertaken a research project to prepare appropriate guidelines for such an intervention based on primary and secondary research.