This research project’s aim is to strengthen MSB’s growing input to early recovery (ER) by introducing a structured application of ER within Sweden’s international humanitarian assistance. In Practice, the problem of bridging between humanitarian operations and sustainable recovery has been recognized by International Organizations for a long time. The EU introduced the concept of “linking relief, rehabilitation and development” or LRRD. UNDP introduced the concept of Early Recovery and the Cluster Approach to overcome this problem as an attempt to bridge the gap between humanitarian disaster relief and long term sustainable development. In spite of the efforts made so far, this has created more debate and less practical impact. Challenges are greater in urban disaster settings where post-disaster response and early recovery interventions are ‘wicked problems’ in nature. The physical symptoms of disaster impacts in urban areas are merely the consequence of complex issues in which the solutions to address them cannot be found through linear processes and go beyond the scope of a single discipline. Since, post-disaster response and recovery operations are about city-re-organizing its multifaceted and interconnected layers to function better, thus urban planning knowledge is the point of departure of this research to untangle the complexities of urban disaster problems. The work grew from a blending between academic research and practice to better tackle the complexity of ER from a number of perspectives. It covers analytical review of the architecture of early recovery interventions within key international humanitarian organisations, the relevancy of collaborative planning model. It includes as well field investigations in post-tsunami of 2004 in Thailand, review of post-Katrina of 2005 and post-Sandy of 2012 in the USA to extract lessons learned, and practicing in real cases to test the relevancy of urban planning knowledge in two humanitarian response operations: post-war of 2006 in Lebanon and post-Yolanda of 2012 in the Philippines. This research suggests the introduction of an additional dimension to the existing early recovery approaches (ER and LRRD) that is process-driven, utilizes geography-based plan and is governed by collaborative principles termed ‘Early Recovery Road Map (ERRoMap). The operational framework of ERRoMap is built up of three main working components: time-sensitive, integrated and area-based planning to identify vital areas for early recovery; inter-organizational interaction; and leadership of collaborative type. It is guided by five core principles: collaborative, dynamic, inclusiveness, accountability and should be applied at both, pre- and post-disaster. The process of ERRoMap planning is according to three stages: getting in, getting on, and getting out. It works with local and national authorities, key organizations already in-country, local NGOs and affected people on the same basis as it work with international humanitarian organizations. The operations of ERRoMap begins onset of a disaster and continue to work in accordance to, and provide inputs to different requirements specified in the Humanitarian Program cycle identified by IASC with a period that varies between 3-6 months depending on the scale of the disaster and areas coverage. ERRoMap is a knowledge-based mission with a well-defined aim, role and output. MSB can build on its competences to fill a very significant gap, which is linking relief with recovery within the Humanitarian Program Cycle developed by IASC. In this context, this research proposes a modality of MSB to support ERRoMap and recommends building on the knowledge obtained and carrying out number of studies for capacity building and operational ERRoMap purposes.