Preparing and Empowering Cities in the face of Pandemics- Covid 19. *Jit Kumar Gupta
Introduction Cities remain most valuable among human settlements, for the contribution they make to the economic development, generation of employment, promoting innovations and providing state of art infrastructure and facilities. As place for concentration of activities and human beings, cities not only create supportive environment for businesses to thrive but also enable residents to have gainful employment. Even during period of crisis, cities are known for their capacity to support communities, local trade & commerce and national economy. Cities drive economic wealth, promote competitiveness, invest in local economies ensure health, safety, and welfare of the people in their communities, and maintain infrastructure, which are known to be the prime mover of economic development. Studies made by UNO, indicate that cities globally housed 4.2 billion people, or 55 percent of the world's population in 2018. By 2050, the urban population is expected to reach 6.5 billion. Cities remain critical because they merely occupy 3 per cent of the planer earth's land, but account for 60–80 per cent of energy consumption and responsible for 75 per cent of carbon emissions. Accordingly, cities have emerged as the major cause for and solution to climate change. Looking at the way cities are growing and operating, sustainable development cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way cities are being built and urban spaces are being managed. Considering the critical role and importance of cities; out of 17 goals mandated by UNO to make this planet livable, SDG 11 is exclusively dedicated to improving cities and making them more sustainable. This goal looks at the options and opportunities to make cities as entities; creating optimum level of career and business opportunities, promoting safe and affordable housing; building resilient societies and economies; making investment to create safe, cost-effective, eco-friendly, affordable public transport; creating appropriate levels of green public spaces, and improving urban planning. Years 2020& 2021, will be known in the urban history, as the most challenging and difficult years, which transformed cities dramatically in their structure, operations and communication, impacting adversely human health, economy, productivity, mobility, trade & commerce, quality of life etc. Holding enormous capacity to face disasters, both manmade and natural even in troubled times, cities of today are facing twin challenges of healthcare, precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis that coronavirus has cast on people and communities. Synergizing and working in collaboration, cities
need to create productive partnership with all levels of governance, local communities and institutions to overcome the ongoing crisis caused by Covid 19, to recover/ rebuild and make cities stronger. For responding effectively to COVID-19, cities need to evolve, devolve and implement strategies to support housing homeless individuals, eliminating all possibilities of utility shutoffs and transforming daily government operations. Considering the current challenges faced due to ongoing pandemic, cities must evolve innovative strategies and use state of art technologies to increase their effectiveness/governance, improve operational efficiency, ensure uninterrupted delivery of services; making urban planning, development and management people centric; formulate supportive policies and evolve rational development programs; bringing transparency; reaching people and involving communities to effectively counter the ill effects of Covid 19.
Issues and Options Cities have been and are going to be the future of all nations, because of the high proportion of national population they will be holding; large employment they will be generating; major contribution they will be making to the economy; quality infrastructure they will be providing/ supporting and innovations/ state of art technologies they will be introducing. However, despite distinct advantages cities hold, they have also emerged as major areas of natural and manmade disasters. History has shown that cities remain an ideal breeding ground for disasters to come and go, the way city develop and operate. With dichotomy and contradictions characterizing their operations, cities remain challenged by periodic occurring of disasters. However, despite suffering huge losses in terms of human life & liberty, economy, employment, trade and commerce social fabric etc., each time cities have emerged stronger and stronger after facing the challenges. In order to empower cities and build capacity to face these natural and manmade disasters, cities need to be planned and designed innovatively; create affordable shelter for housing all the urban residents; ensure uninterrupted provision of basic and essential infrastructure/ services/ amenities; create opportunities of gainful employment ; taking care of the mental health of both workers/residents; making optimum use of technology; generating adequate resources for funding different people centric programs; supporting urban poor; providing appropriate healthcare facilities; supporting great leadership etc. Looking at the entire urban context, attempt has been made to define various issues and options, which cities must focus on and exercise to make them safe, resilient and inclusive to counter the adverse conditions created by the repeated pandemics. Few of the options which cities need to exercise have been detailed below;
Urban Planning
For empowering the cities to face natural and manmade disasters, cities must be planned, designed, constructed and managed for flexibility. The flexibility should be built, in terms of creating spaces, opportunities and accommodations to house all essentials for residents and communities to counter the disasters. Cities need to be empowered so that during the period of crisis, they must be able to create space for housing homeless or who are rendered homeless; create healthcare facilities; provide food on continued basis; generate alternate opportunities of livelihood and sharing all basic amenities and facilities essential for human living. This would require all healthcare facilities, educational buildings, public /community buildings etc. to be planned and designed differently, in order to enable them to reinvent/ reshape so as to cater to all exigencies created by disasters For enabling cites to effectively combat the pandemics, cities must be decentralized and divided into self-contained neighborhoods, duly planned and supported with basic facilities and infrastructures related to healthcare, education, shopping, community facilities etc. These neighborhoods should be planned and developed on pedestrian/human scale, based on walkability. Norms for these amenities/facilities must be reviewed, revised and redefined from time to time, keeping in view the changing needs of the community. Healthcare should invariably remain the area of focus in order to effectively counter the adverse impact of pandemics Cities, as areas of large concentration of population/ activities, remain hotbeds of natural disasters The pandemic has shown the challenge existing in our urban spaces, as 90% cases are reported in urban areas. COVID-19 pandemic can be drastically slowed down by reducing exposure to those living in crowded areas. In order to save existing cities from current and impending natural and health related disasters, it will be vital to address the issues facing the core/congested areas. Efforts must be made to decongest the core areas of the city for empowering them to remain healthy. However, considering the concentration of population and whole sale/business activities located in these areas, it becomes difficult to decongest them for the reason, these areas, developed historically, attract lot of business and also generate lot of traffic engaged in ferrying goods to/from the areas. Further due to large concentration of buildings in these areas, it becomes difficult to undertake their demolitions on large scale. Accordingly, for decongestion, it will be vital to explore options like, minimizing the entry of mechanical and fossil fuel-based vehicles with efforts made to promote pedestrianization in the area. Efforts should also to be made to shift the wholesale trade from the core to the areas identified in the master plan and use the area vacated by the wholesale trade for creating open spaces, which remains at premium in all the core areas. In addition, with the restricted entry of goods/ vehicles, it will be appropriate to convert area under roads/parking into pavements, to be exclusively used for pedestrians. With large scale landscaping of the
areas under pavement, core areas will have reduced congestion, reduced vehicles, reduced noise/pollution and more openness. This will help in making cities healthier and open. Similar strategy needs to be adopted for decongesting all the walled cities existing in the country, which will help in making them not only healthy but also would ensure the safety of the residents from the adverse impact of the pandemics. Urban agriculture must be made integral part of the neighborhood planning so that community does not suffer from the unforeseen lock-outs. Neighborhoods must evolve an institutional mechanism, based on cooperative approach, so as to promote sharing and equitable distribution of day- to -day needs among local communities in the hour of crisis. Adequate opportunities must be created and planned at the neighborhood level for the small enterprises and women- led business, to avoid undue hardship caused to them in the hour of crisis. Adequate employment opportunities and work centers must be created at the local level to minimize concentration of people and minimize travel to different destinations besides permitting people to work from home. Considering the ongoing and impending pandemics, norms and standards for providing healthcare facilities must be reviewed, revised and redefined with focus on preventive healthcare rather than promoting curative approach. Technology must be leveraged to create a city level network of healthcare facilities, for making accessible such facilities easy and safer, to all including; consultation, prescribing medicine, sourcing medicine, monitoring healthcare, creating online medical history of the residents etc. This will not only help in minimizing the need of visiting healthcare institutions, reducing the number of healthcare institutions, reducing mobility, improving environment and promoting efficiency but also making available best of the medical consultation at the most affordable cost within the minimum timeframe. This will also reduce/eliminate the cost of creating large infrastructures for the out-patient sections of hospitals. Sustainability Sustainability and wellness have high degree of positive connectivity. Cities are increasingly prioritizing environmental protections, climate preparedness, and greenhouse gas emission reductions to make them healthy and livable. Cities have also recognized the significant linkages between environmental health and the physical, mental, and economic health of communities. Research has shown that people with long-term exposure to air pollution are more likely to die from COVID-19. To help mitigate these negative outcomes, cities must implement renewable energy production, promote sustainable development, preserve natural resources, promote bio-diversity, encourage green buildings and prepare for extreme and climate-related events. In making cities more ecofriendly,they must minimize the production of waste. Cities must plan and try to cut half the amount of waste that is being shipping to landfills by 2040 through the, conversion of waste and bio-solids to compost on a
massive scale. Creating a Waste Task force, duly supported by plans to eliminate plastic bags will be vital to prevent harmful pollutants from entering the soil. Cities have to innovate to convert waste to wealth and making optimum use of waste generated. Cities need to be planned and operated on the analogy of circular economy so as to eliminate all waste. Plastic, which is being considered the largest pollutant globally, is being looked at as the greatest resource considering its use in making roads, creating bricks for making buildings etc. Sustainability will have to be considered in the various contexts. It will be impossible to achieve sustainability without active support and involvement of communities and stakeholders. Achieving sustainability will require a realistic roadmap in the shape of Sustainability Plan to be prepared along with defining the approach to achieve the goals and objectives. Implementing Sustainability Plan with specific, measurable goals through a dedicated fund for reducing carbon emissions will help in making communities better, fairer, safer to live. Public safety initiatives focusing on strengthening relations with the community, through education and outreach, will be most important factors to determine the overall quality of life for a community. Emergency, preparedness, sustainability, health, and economy are often seen as separate, stand-alone issues. However, they remain interconnected and inter-dependent. Their mutual exclusion is considered as counter-productive for both cities and governments. Cities taking a holistic approach to addressing these issues, will be better placed to engage with any unforeseen calamity, and will also ensure higher and better returns on investment made to counter adverse conditions. Empowering cities to design creative, equitable programs, that address multiple challenges and drive local economies/ communities for preparing them for future calamities, will remain crucial and valuable for any city to effectively combat any future pandemics.
Housing
Providing affordable housing to all residents, irrespective of caste, creed, religion, age, sex, economic strata etc., remains vital and crucial to counter effectively the negative forces generated by the pandemics. In all cases it has been observed, homeless and people living in slums and crowded areas, are the one who are major sufferers during the outbreak of pandemics. Thousands of people, living in metropolitan centers, having no assured accommodation, were the one who were first to migrate from these urban centers, suffer enormously and emerged as the major causality /cause of spread of the covid 19, in India. Access to quality housing remains key to residents’ ability to live as fully empowered members of the local community. The pandemic has exacerbated the housing crisis affecting the most vulnerable populations, especially for homeless and low-income residents. To rebuild strong settlements, cities will have to work and involve residents, businesses and state as partners
Cities remain the hot beds of pandemics with majority of cases occurring in slums. People who live in slums are known to have limited/no access to improved water supply , access to improved sanitation, sufficient living area, and durable housing Looking globally, number of slum dwellers reached more than 1 billion in 2018, or 24 per cent of the urban population. In India, every sixth urbanite lived in slums (Census 2011). For making urban settlements safe against Carona19, cities must be rationally planned and developed not only to create adequate housing stock but also make it available to all its residents including poorest of the poor to have a safe living environment, duly supported by basic infrastructure /amenities/ services etc . Accordingly, cities must ensure access to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services by upgrading slums. This should involve not only reduction of proportion of urban population living in slums /informal settlements but also reduction in their absolute numbers. To fight pandemic and to minimize its impact on people and communities, it will be vital to prioritize affordable housing, expanding resources and services for homeless individuals; banning evictions of tenants in need of assistance; ensuring every resident has access to safe, stable and affordable housing, especially for the most vulnerable and at-risk populations. Creating large stock of rental housing on continued basis; creating numerous options for sourcing housing and partnering with developers to construct affordable housing complex, duly supported with various amenities, should remain the focus of all development/parastatal agencies, operating at local/state level. With housing instability as the major contributor to coronavirus rates, large number of renters unable to afford a home, would require city support on continued basis. Cities must urgently consider putting a ban on evicting tenants in need of assistance and should offer rent deferment payment plans to tenants, who are facing financial hardships For checking spread of Covid 19, it will be critical to create/provide a safe place and potential work opportunities for homeless/vulnerable people and to ensure they have access to the resources they need. Cities need to partner with developer for constructing affordable senior housing complex with various amenities. Installing toilets around encampment centers, converting/ transforming existing public buildings into homeless shelters for those experiencing homelessness and to maintain social distancing and eliminate overcrowding, will be vital to check the spread of Covid 19.Involving NGOs, CBOs, Charitable, Cultural, Professional and Religious organizations existing at local level in making provision for housing the homelessness during the current crisis will be vital to minimizing the spread and effectively counter the virus.
Green Built Environment For overcoming Covid 19 and effectively countering pandemics in future, cities must promote planned development and green/sustainable built
environment. According to World Energy Council Report, 2016, ‘Buildings consume over 45% global energy, 30% of total raw materials extracted on this planet, 25% timber harvested, 16% fresh water withdrawal, 35% of world’s CO2 emission, 40% municipal solid waste and 50% ozone depleting CFC besides promoting ‘sick building syndrome’. Considering lifecycle cost and energy, only !0% cost of a building & 17% energy goes into making of a building, whereas remaining 90% cost/ 83% energy is used in their operation and maintenance, involving heating, cooling, lighting, ventilating, repairing and making limited additions and alterations. Buildings are known to be large consumer of energy and resources besides generators of large waste. Designing energy efficient and resource efficient buildings becomes all the more important, for the obvious and simple reason that major quantum of buildings are yet to be constructed. As per estimates made globally for the year 2030 with regard to the requirement of built environment, only 40% of buildings have been estimated to be constructed so far, whereas 60% of the buildings are yet to be constructed. Further as per studies carried out by McKenzie Global Research Institute, India needs addition of 700- 900 million sqm of built space on annual basis in urban settlements, to meet the demand of housing, working, trade and commerce, Industries, leisure, healthcare, education etc., of people migrating to the cities and the natural growth of population. Buildings have been acknowledged for their role, importance and potential for saving this planet by offering greatest opportunity to minimize energy consumption and resources, simply by changing the manner in which buildings are visualized, planned, constructed , managed and operated. Looking at the entire gamut of built environment, Green Buildings emerge as the best option to make buildings sustainable and least consumers of energy and resources. Green Buildings have been recognized globally by nations for minimizing use of water, optimizing energy efficiency, conserving natural resources, generating minimum waste and providing healthier space/indoor quality for occupants as compared to conventional buildings. Green Buildings also save energy up to 50%; water consumption by 40% and reduce carbon emission by 35%. Green buildings are also known to scale down Co2 generation by 800012000 tons and 3 MW of connected electric load per million Sqft of built space created besides reducing waste by 70% . Green buildings not only reduce consumption of non-renewable resources but also fetch better returns from buildings. Such buildings provide financial, environmental and social benefits besides creating a win-win situation for both owners, occupants and users through healthier indoor air quality, lesser sickness and improved productivity. Green built environment is known and recognized for its capacity and value to fight the pandemics more effectively and efficiently. In order to make cities/living spaces healthy, cities must allocate adequate financial resources and provide appropriate technical assistance to all the
stakeholders to guide and assist them to construct and retrofit the existing buildings to make them sustainable, resilient and resource/ energy efficient, using local materials. Planning, designing, constructing and maintaining green buildings should be made mandatory in all category of buildings. Singapore has already prepared a master plan for the island, for making all the existing buildings to be green within next 10-15 years, in addition to making all new buildings to be green. Such an agenda should also be put in operation by all the urban centers in the country. Cities must also rope in and engage reputed agencies like Indian Green Building Council, for aiding, advising, assisting, managing and guiding them as how to usher a culture of green buildings in the urban areas. Awareness programs must be launched for the children by involving educational institutions to promote green concepts, green living and green buildings. Green and healthy building should also be made integral part of architectural/engineering teaching and learning by making them part of study curricula/ syllabi.
Infrastructures
Infrastructure remains the bedrock on which superstructure of all urban settlements is made to stand. Infrastructure is also considered most crucial component of any city to operate effectively and efficiently and provide basic and day-to-day needs besides ensuring quality of life for all its inhabitants. Cities are primarily responsible for providing qualitative/quantitative infrastructure, maintaining them effectively & efficiently and improving available infrastructure on continued basis, which are critical to resident’s safety and public health. Accordingly, making investments in infrastructure and public works in partnership with stakeholders, remain vital for all cities to mitigate spread of the virus, increase resiliency, and ensure long-term recovery. Considering the critical role and importance of quality water in the human habitation, there is an urgent need to upgrade water related infrastructure to increase its operational efficiency to make cities more resilient to meet effectively the challenges of natural disasters in future. Cities accordingly, must formulate and put in place emergency plans to provide high-quality drinking water to residents. Cities should never stop water service even in the face of non-payment and should formulate policies to waive off late fees for residents for delayed payment of water charges. Investing in wastewater treatment facilities which not only preserve treated wastewater, effectively and efficiently, but also remain environment friendly to the community, will be vital for improving resilience to flood management infrastructure and stormwater management. Constructing Water Pollution Control Plant, will allow more effective and efficient water management and treatment for many years. Small businesses remain most valuable and productive asset of any city and accordingly form cornerstone of inclusive growth of cities. Considering large workforce deployed in the infrastructure sector for providing water,
managing sewer/garbage services, maintaining/repairing roads, managing infrastructure and public works services; protecting, supporting and enabling the small enterprises and people deployed in these businesses/services, should be given priority to make them operationally efficient and productive during the period of crisis. Cities must continue to address existing critical gaps in services by upgrading aging infrastructure and ensuring equitable access to public services. Increasing urban mobility for the bottom section of social/economic pyramid, will help in improving the accessibility of town for economically challenged section. Protecting the safety and health of the public, to respond effectively to the pandemic, and expanding hygiene services by providing portable toilets and hand washing stations for the homeless population, will be vital to check uncontrolled march of Carona virus. Decentralization of infrastructures at the local level and making neighborhoods self-sustaining and self-sufficient in day-to-day infrastructure, shall be critical for any city to remain healthy and more productive. Creating quality education infrastructure at local level will be vital because strong schools are known for producing thriving communities, creating jobs, strengthening tax base, making safer neighborhoods, and enhanced property values.
Financing
All development activities are known to be large consumers of resources, both financial and technical. Having a strong fiscal foundation, remains vital for cities to provide needed and expected services. On-set of pandemics, has drastically cut down adequate flow of resources to the local/state level agencies. All these agencies are heading towards and facing fiscal crisis. Fiscal challenges facing cities, are adversely impacting their capacity, ability and capability to finance the capital improvement, infrastructure maintenance and other critical public works services. Many cities are known to scale down the services at a time when the community needs them most, layoff and furlough employees, who comprise a large share of middle class, and pull back on capital projects, further impacting local employment, business contracts and overall investment in the economy Responding to COVID-19, despite limitation of available resources, cities are trying to support/help residents and businesses from additional financial burden by deferment of property tax, business license fee suspensions etc. Cities need to be fiscally responsible by engaging with the public on budgetary practices, managing their relationships with state/local governments for rebuilding their reserves. Considering the fact that cities are re-defining their focus and allocating all available resources to fight the pandemic, they need to expand additional resources to support people involved in the healthcare sector, fire services and infrastructures besides protecting and supporting the community. Adopting resilience lens will help and enables cities, to analyze all budgetary decisions across departments
and determine how connections can be made to enhance local preparedness, improve resident health, and get communities back to work.
Safety
Safety remains most critical in urban context because safe cities are known to usher prosperity, make businesses flourish and make communities and people happy, healthy and more productive. Considering the present context, managing climate change and global warming should remain top priorities for the communities to remain safe against natural and manmade disasters. Reducing neighborhood crime and strengthening relationships between residents, communities and police will be critical to promote safety. Safety in neighborhoods/cities can be brought in by lifting and empowering people and communities. Any attempt to lock people in the name of safety shall always remain counterproductive and will lead to making areas highly unsafe. Making any community and neighborhood safe should invariably involve communities as partners. Cities must invest in developing an effective and efficient community response program, involving trained and trusted community members, for immediate use in the hour of crime/crisis, for restoring peace, ensuring calm, support families/ survivors, and stop situations from escalating into further acts of violence. Faced with growing crime cities also need to adopt tough-oncrime approach. Before evolving any response system, study needs to be made of the factors which remain largely responsible for making areas unsafe and also identify communities and groups which are at greater risk. Studies made globally have revealed that Census operations are highly critical for identifying/counting the households, which are prone to higher order of risk like children below the age of 5 years; identifying racial and ethnic minorities and low-income households. An accurate census count has been considered pre-requisite and most valuable for promoting safety of all urban residents. Census are considered of enormous value for municipalities to ensure that funding various projects reflect accurately the needs and composition of the targeted groups. Complete Census count also helps in achieving a full and accurate count of residents needing assistance; ensures accurate allocation of resources for emergency preparedness/disaster relief; linking to health programs/ food banks.; providing groceries to vulnerable communities in response to COVID-19, and evolving resilient planning etc.
Technology LEAGUE OF .AL LEAGUE OF CI
Technology has emerged as the greatest supporter/saviour in this period of crisis caused by pandemic, for both governments, parastatal agencies and communities. Technology is being increasingly used to replace human led activities, minimizing the need of human contacts, increasing accessibility and ensuring the efficient delivery of services. Technology is also being used on large scale, to communicate and sharing information
and resources with communities both at local and global level. Technology is being increasingly leveraged to promote work from home and making businesses contactless. Healthcare sector has been major beneficiary of technological innovations. Accordingly, it is important that role and importance of technology is fully understood, appreciated and made use of in this period of pandemic. Technology holds great potential in minimizing and countering the adverse effects of natural and manmade disasters. Cities are increasingly understanding, appreciating, adopting and using technology to make governance processes more transparent; identifying events, programs and services that largely impact residents, and identify potential opportunities to improve their performance and connectivity with communities and stakeholders at large. Cities are using technology, as a platform, to communicate with people and communities, about policies and issues, which remain important to them. Number of cities are trying to graduate to 5-G fiber network to increase internet speed and Wi-Fi services at local level, for attracting new businesses and utilizing social media platforms, to improve the quality of life for residents. Technology can be effectively leveraged for organizing events/competitions for encouraging residents to visit various attractions in cities and share their visits on social media for getting recognition. This will not only help in engaging with the public/ local communities, but will also go a long way in marketing the city, both locally and globally. In addition, it will educate residents and others, about the city’s historical and aesthetical sites/value. Cities need to make optimum use of social media to identify events, programs and services that would connect them with majority of residents, to better understand what people like and value about the city and to attract community members by offering improved and popular opportunities for the future. Smart cities are known for their capacity to combat effectively the pandemic by using sensors; collecting data by deploying drones to determine whether physical-distancing rules are being followed ; enforcing physical-distancing rules by alerting people to move away from each other, if they are congregating. Technology is also being leveraged by cities/states to provide details about the number of cases of covid 19 on day-to-day basis and also communicating/sharing the availability of healthcare facilities at various places and at various destinations. Cities need to increasingly partner with tech companies to use smart city technologies to trace the contacts of people infected with the virus to inform the community. Cities need to increasingly use social media to minimize the at-risk population in the wake of COVID-19; uplifting the plight of the homeless individuals; making residents stay-at-home and practice social distancing through virtual interactions, to flatten the curve and to improve the quality of life for residents.
Technology is also facilitating cities in the healthcare sector, to provide online healthcare services/treatment to patients. Imparting online education, by using information technology, has been the mechanism used by practically all the educational institutions to communicate with the students. Large number of knowledge sharing platforms have been made operational with the help of technology to conduct webinars/conferences etc., for sharing and disseminating information/knowledge about issues of public interest. Work from home for majority of employees has been made possible by the extensive use of technology.
Leadership
Local leadership remains critical for cities, in current health and economic crisis, not only to recover from the economic recession but also to provide residents and businesses, with the tools for strengthening economy and to identify ways and means, that are more equitable, sustainable and forwardthinking. Accelerating delivery of essential services, like public safety &health; directing investments toward resilient infrastructure; building up reserves; instituting better budgeting practices; acknowledging the disproportionate challenges faced by minority and implementing targeted programs to support them, remain the major issues to be addressed by the local leadership. Serving the needs of the most vulnerable by local leadership, through various initiatives, will be vital to overcome the ill effects of Covid 19. To be ready to respond to the growing needs of communities and for the long road of recovery ahead, cities need a strong leadership /partnership with all levels of government. For early recovering from the pandemic, it will be imperative that cities get the support they need to build an even stronger cities, to overcome the unforeseen future challenges. Strengthening local leadership will remain vital and critical for evolving rational policies and innovative solutions; establishing and implementing a realistic/achievable vision and lead during the most challenging moments. Local leaders must have the capacity, capability, understanding, expertise and vision to take cities forward. Cities need to rebuild and bring systems change, to start the journey towards fast recovery, and to promote search for rational options to improve local leaders’ ability to service and empower the residents. With economy getting into deep trouble and unemployment rate growing fast, it is imperative that all stakeholders must work in tandem/ come together for ushering an era of fast recovery. Cities going alone and bearing the brunt of negative fiscal consequences of the pandemic, are likely to put cities/communities in a critical situation/ slow path of recovery. Cities enforcing stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of the virus should increasingly work with communities to create virtual resource and recovery centers to provide food and other support to residents. Sprucing up essential services, like public safety and health, directing investments toward resilient
infrastructure and building up reserves, will be critical for cities to effectively counter such pandemics in future. Local leaders need to demonstrate their commitment to fiscal balance and operational excellence by adopting preventive maintenance policies to reduce outsourcing and keeping jobs inhouse; to minimize future financial commitments for making significant difference to the future liabilities for the taxpayers,
Options for Business- Economic Development Entrepreneurs and small businesses struggle and face significant economic downturns but, if supported, can also be at the heart of the fast recovery of city economy. Options for recovery can range, from helping business owners build a web presence and encouraging them to bid for local contracts, connecting them to mentors and micro-lenders. Demonstrating continued commitment to small businesses and entrepreneurs will help small businesses, to explore their inherent potential of creating large number of new jobs. Developing small business enterprise program for the city’s socially and economically disadvantaged businesses, will remain most critical and vital for empowering these ventures, in any period of economic or natural crisis. Launching initiatives to assist minority- and women-owned businesses, including creating partnership to provide technical support, establishing a debt and equity fund that will offer working capital, will be a pre-requisite to bring such enterprises back to business. Making commitment to help secure the future of these businesses and restoring the economic health of the communities will be urgently needed. Launching of a rent payment reimbursement program for the city’s Small Business/ COVID-19 Relief Grants Program, for the small businesses adversely affected by the pandemic, will be critical to generate employment and revive these businesses. Supporting businesses applying for business loans will be critical and vital to bring these businesses back on the rail. Mental Health CITIES Considering growing concern of mental health for cities in the face of Covid 19, expanding mental health resources and addressing emotional and mental duress by developing mental health programs and putting in place 24/7 mental health care at the community/city levels, will be critical to fight pandemic and Covid 19. OF CITIES Considering youths as cities’ future, leaders must ensure support for young children and families in need, for making them school ready and providing youth with access to a high-quality education. Universities need to increase enrollment for new students, taking both online/ inperson classes. Conclusions
With majority of all cases recorded in cities, urban areas have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis. Accordingly, adopting sustainable development goals mandated by UNO, to make cities safe, resilient, inclusive and sustainable, should remain the guiding principle and agenda for the growth, development and management of cities and towns to make them better places to live and work. UN-Habitat’s new report - Cities and Pandemics: Towards a more just, green and healthy future – demonstrates how cities can reduce the impact of future pandemics and become more equitable, healthy and environment- friendly. Studies made globally have revealed that, existing patterns of dichotomy, contradictions and inequality existing in cities, characterized by the lack of access to basic services, poverty and overcrowded living conditions, have been largely responsible and destabilizing factors in increasing the scale and impact of COVID-19. Accordingly, cities need to, critically and objectively, look at these issues and evolve realistic and rational strategies, based on existing ground realities and after due consultation with and involving local communities, institutions, stakeholders, local/city leadership, NGOs, CBOs etc. to make city growth more supportive for the have-not’s sections of the urban society and to check the on set/spread of these pandemics in future. As per UN Secretary-General *António Guterres, ‘Cities being engines of dynamism and innovation, can help overcome development deficits. They can spearhead reforms towards a New Social Contract to tackle poverty, strengthen social protection, restore public trust and reach people, who are on the margins or who face discrimination’. UNO has also stated that, for making cities safe against disasters, new normal for urban planners and managers would be to make cities places where health, housing and security are prioritized for the most vulnerable, not only out of social necessity, but also from a profound commitment to human rights for all. This would essentially involve planners/ government to focus on policies to protect land rights, improve access to water, sanitation, public transport, electricity, health and education facilities and ensure inclusive digital connectivity. Giving greater focus to housing, basic services, sustainable mobility, connectivity, protecting jobs and providing financial support to cities will remain critical, to allow them to create financial resilience; build a new urban economy that reduces disaster risk as well as addressing climate change by developing nature-based solutions and investing in sustainable infrastructure to enable low carbon transport . Cities also need to prepare detailed disaster mitigation plans at local level involving local communities and stakeholders, in order to effectively deal with such calamities at the local level with minimum response time. Appropriate disaster mitigation strategies and
structures need to be created and made operational in all human settlements. Cities must also create disaster preparedness centers at different levels for their effective management.
Improving cities and making them more sustainable would involve; creating career and business opportunities; safe and affordable housing, building resilient societies; making investment in public transport to provide greater and unhindered access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety providing universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, including for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities; and making urban planning Inclusive and sustainable. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way we build and manage our urban spaces.
Each city and urban settlement remain unique and distinct, socially, structurally, physically and economically, and accordingly needs to develop, adapt and implement its own operational plans to effectively counter the COVID-19 and other natural disasters, which appropriately meet the needs of local population. Plans must have inbuilt flexibility to address/react/cope/respond to any rapidly changing situation. Each city has to evolve its own mechanism and agenda for effectively countering the natural disasters.
Involving local community leadership will remain vital for disseminating any information, communicating with citizens and preparing them for fighting the adverse impact of Covid 19 at local level. City authorities must involve communities, in suggesting innovative, cost-effective, operationally-efficient mechanism needed, for promoting safety and reducing the spread of the pandemics at the local level.
Actively involving religious and cultural institutions, having large following and infrastructure in the area, will be helpful in creating adequate response system and setting up centres for treating patients, creating healthcare facilities, sourcing manpower, accessing communities, raising resources, providing food and meeting daily needs of the vulnerable/needy population living in Informal settlements, homeless people, refugees, migrants, older persons, socially marginalized groups etc.
Note; Author would like to thankfully and gratefully acknowledge and appreciate, with gratitude, the vital and valuable input received from the report, ‘State of Cities, 2020, from National League of Cities’; ‘Wikipedia and WHO Guidelines’, without which this paper would have not been possible in the present shape, intent and content.
References;
Anthony Clarence ; State of the Cities, 2020; National League of Cities
Wikipedia; Sustainable Development Goal 11, Gupta JK; Strategies for Making Buildings Green and Energy Efficient; published paper. UN-Habitat’s new report - Cities and Pandemics: Towards a more just, green and healthy future McKinsey Global Institute: India’s Urban Awakening: Building Inclusive Cities, Sustaining Economic Growth, Report April, 2010 World Energy Council Report, 2016, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goal_11 World Health Organization; Strengthening Preparedness for COVID-19 in Cities and Urban Settings- Interim Guidance for Local Authorities, 2019; WHO-2019-nCoV-Urban_preparedness-2020.1-eng.pdf
Author: * Ar. Jit Kumar Gupta Founder Director; College of Architecture, I.E.T, Bhaddal #344, Sector 40-A ; Chandigarh- 160036 Email; jit.kumar944@gmail.com