Box 4.6: Urban task forces to mitigate the economic damage of COVID-19

the First Ministers of each Australian state and territory, tasked with coordinating and delivering a consistent national response;127 Kenya’s National Coordination Committee on the Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic, with representation from both the national and subnational levels. In South Africa, meanwhile, the National Command Council — chaired by the President and comprising numerous ministers and director-generals as well as the heads of the National Defence Force and the Police Service — is tasked with ensuring clear guidance, coordination and coherence in dealing with the pandemic, enabling the national government to coordinate with provincial structures on how provincial, metropolitan and local authorities should handle the crisis. Notably, vertical coordination has also taken place through less institutionalized means such as ‘agreements’, as in Germany, where tougher measures were agreed between 11 cities and the national government.128 The government of Georgia established the National Intersectoral Coordination Council, which became the main decision-making body regarding the rules and restrictions relating to COVID-19 within the country.129 In Armenia, a Crisis Management Centre, under the authority of the Deputy Prime Minister, was established to ensure centralized management of the crisis.130

In other countries, too, task forces have been formed to address the wide-ranging and often connected impacts of the pandemic. These have been formed at both the national and subnational levels and spearheaded by various levels of government. Examples include the Toronto Office of Recovery and Rebuild135 in Canada and Chicago’s COVID-19 Recovery Taskforce in the US, the latter mobilizing experts from a broad cross-section of representatives from industry, regional government and community-based organizations to focus not on a range of areas, from business and policy development to mental health and social change.136

Cities have also seen the formation of special bodies linked to the pandemic. In Senegal, local authorities partnered with the Senegalese

Box 4.6: Urban task forces to mitigate the economic damage of COVID-19

With urban areas account for around 55 per cent of the world’s population and more than 80 per cent of global GDP,131 the economic impacts of the pandemic are concentrated in cities. To meet these challenges, Calgary has created an Economic Resilience Task Force to develop recommendations on economic relief measures to support residents and businesses through the pandemic, with the aim of promoting “a coordinated short term response, medium-term recovery and long-term resilience-building activities”.132 In Brazil, Maringa also created a task force to develop the Economic and Social Development Recovery Plan, based on a partnership between the city government and SEBRAE, the national agency responsible for supporting micro and small businesses. The plan aims to boost the local economy through job creation, new investments and capacity building.133 Cities in the US also developed their own bodies to focus on economic resilience: Denver, for instance, established an Economic Relief and Recovery Council as an advisory group to provide recommendations on mitigating and preventing further negative impacts of COVID-19.134

national fund by forming a task force called “Force COVID-19”: overseen by the President of the Association of Mayors of Senegal, it has been instrumental in raising funds, receiving medical equipment from donors and disbursing them to health facilities in a coordinated manner.137 In a similar move, in Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan Autonomous District established a task force for the implementation of its action plan to fight the spread of the virus, with a budget focused on the distribution of food kits to the most deprived populations.138 In Turkey, city response and coordination have been undertaken through “pandemic boards” established by governorates for a more decentralized response.

Digital technologies and data collection: The use of technology for more inclusive forms of “smart” governance, better service delivery and evidence-based decision-making was already underway before the arrival of COVID-19, but the pandemic has accelerating the integration of the digital into urban life.139 Many cities have

Aerial view of Appa Pada slum in Malad, MUMBAI/INDIA, which is under government-ordered isolation due to a high number of positive COVID-19 cases detected. © Shutterstock

enhanced the use of new tools and technologies to foster communication, transparency, information-sharing and stakeholder engagement. In particular, new technologies have been and will be crucial to improve collaboration on data collection and sharing. China’s coronavirus response provides a good example of the importance of digital approaches to tackle the pandemic rapidly and efficiently, as well as the potential pitfalls that political interference or non-cooperation can create even with sophisticated systems already in place: indeed, despite being set up in 2008 in the wake of SARS specifically to provide a countrywide picture of an infectious disease’s spread, the Chinese reporting system initially delivered limited results as a result of obstruction by local authorities in Hubei and Wuhan.140

A number of cities have successfully collaborated with private sector actors and tech companies to develop innovative digital tools. In some cases, capacities developed through the experience of the pandemic are now helping inform further initiatives to aid recovery: for example, having already established a strong geographic information system in the city and exploited its DataBridge data-sharing platform to guide its response to the virus, Philadelphia has partnered with Mastercard to correlate point-of-sale data with mobility patterns to better understand economic trends.141 Other cities, such as London, Madrid and New York, are using Mastercard’s tools to inform decision-making on budgets, aid disbursement and investment as they plan their next steps.142

Regarding the use of digital tools, it is possible to identify five main functions for which these are being employed during the pandemic:

ƒ Firstly, regional and local governments are increasingly mobilizing digital tools to track and stop the spread of the coronavirus. In

Brazil, São Paulo is monitoring confirmed or suspected cases through telemedicine and launched an application for self-isolated patients143 while city authorities in Recife are using a platform that tracks the location of individuals based on their smartphones to check compliance with social distancing measures. In Budapest, authorities employed smart technologies to locate areas where large numbers of people were concentrated.144

ƒ Secondly, technological tools are used to share

COVID-related information with citizens, not only promoting compliance with containment measures but also reducing anxiety and mistrust of authorities. For example, Buenos

Aires developed a WhatsApp bot as a communications channel for residents to answer questions about prevention, symptoms and general information from city services about COVID-19.145 In Oaxaca, a portal was development containing updated information — including in indigenous languages — on the number of contagions per region, jurisdiction and municipality. The portal also included a

WhatsApp bot that helps answer questions on registered cases, the nearest health centres, prevention measures and official announcements.146 In Bulgaria a special group was established by the National Association of

Municipalities for mayors to share information, experiences and best practices to respond to the crisis, as well as secure essential health supplies from companies.147

ƒ Thirdly, digital tools have been employed in the context of COVID-19 to support the provision of social services amidst the disruptions of the pandemic. One area was in education as school closures left many children struggling to transition to online learning: for instance, to support children engaged in remote learning,

Vienna offered a free tutoring initiative for pupils in various subjects.148 In Israel, Tel-Aviv launched an initiative called ‘Big Brother’ in which high school students teach elementary pupils as part of a personal commitment project which was facilitated by the city through distribution of laptops and tablets to children who did not have access to the devices.149 In Malta, an online platform called

YouSafe was created to allow local council officials and staff members to maintain close communication with residents throughout the crisis.150

ƒ Fourthly, digital tools have been utilized to expand opportunities for participatory governance and collect feedback from the population on long-term strategies for recovery. In Australia, Melbourne opened an online platform for residents to participate and share how the crisis has changed their priorities and perspectives on the future of the city, to inform the long-term recovery plan.151

Similarly, Sydney set up an online survey to garner inputs from local businesses, property owners, organizations, residents, workers, students and other groups to shape its City

Recovery Strategy. The city also invited additional feedback and specifically provided support for residents with hearing or speech impairments or in need of an interpreter.152

ƒ Lastly, digital tools have been instrumental in ensuring local institutions are able to maintain their democratic functions while physical gatherings and in-person meetings have not been possible. In Netherlands and

Spain, for instance, local representatives may deliberate and take legally binding decisions through online sessions.153 In South Africa, a ministerial regulation was passed to allow local governments to undertake municipal tasks, such as the adoption of integrated development plans, operations relating to municipal services and revenue collection through virtual platforms. It also called for consultation of communities through digital platforms and other methods of consultation to promote public participation throughout the pandemic.154 Similar actions have been undertaken in the UK through the Coronavirus Technological tools are used to share COVID-related information with citizens, not only promoting compliance with containment measures but also reducing anxiety and mistrust of authorities