Author: erik

Cities for Global Health

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As of  2 April, 1 p.m., 43 cities shared already 144 initiatives – worth browsing it! And share your own!

The global crisis generated by the COVID-19 outbreak is pushing cities of all shapes to give immediate answers to an emergency that is seriously threatening not only citizens’ health, but the social cohesion, the economy and the infrastructures of our territories.

While the virus spreads regardless of administrative boundaries, territorial scales or weather conditions, affecting millions of individuals simultaneously in different ways, it drives us to overcome management barriers. In metropolitan spaces, the collaboration of central cities and peripheries can make a huge difference to ensure that quality of life is not further threatened under scenarios of fragility and that no one is left behind.

Collaboration between administrations of different levels is key to deal with this crisis. Seeking to foster collective responses and facilitate the access of decision-makers to first-hand experiences about how urban areas across the globe can deal with situations alike, local and regional governments of all sizes from across the globe are invited to share:

Initiatives (e.g. plans, strategies, policies) designed specifically as a reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak

Initiatives designed to face other health emergencies such as sanitary crisis or epidemics.

https://www.citiesforglobalhealth.org/

COVID-19 in informal urban settlements

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“Most of the information about COVID-19 and who is at risk is based on data from middle and high income contexts. Many of the recommendations (to wash hands, self-isolate and physically distance) assume basic living conditions and access to essential services (e.g. water, space etc). […] Many of these strategies will not be possible to the same degree in low and middle income countries (LMICs), and especially not in urban informal settlements. With 1 billion people living in informal settlements, there is an urgent need to consider feasibility and develop locally appropriate approaches. This brief sets out key considerations for protecting informal urban settlements from the spread and impacts of COVID-19 and discusses what is known about vulnerabilities and how to support local action.”

Public Health Protection and Epidemic Control at Municipal Level

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What kind of measures are necessary to sustainably protect citizens from infectious diseases and epidemics? How have German municipalities organised their response model? And what is the situation like in other cities and regions around the world? Moreover, what can be done to strengthen local health systems? These questions were at the heart of the dialogue event ‘Public Health Protection and Epidemic Control at Municipal Level’.

In cooperation with the City of Frankfurt’s Public Health Department, the international urban networking platform Connective Cities invited German and international stakeholders from Brazil, Jordan and Liberia to exchange their experience and showcase their good practices in Frankfurt from 25 to 27 November. This event attracted medical doctors and staff from municipalities, state governments and ministries as well as experts from the field of infectious disease control and crisis management.

The primary objective of this event was to map out practicable prevention strategies and to collectively identify project ideas for controlling and responding to biological hazards

Much of this is more relevant today than ever.

Further information and impressions of the event in the short documentation, in the detailed report and in the video (on YouTube)

The impact of COVID-19 in informal settlements – are we paying enough attention?

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As we in the global North brace ourselves for the coronavirus pandemic we are being told to wash our hands (for 20 seconds!) and self-isolate if sick. But what if you cannot do either of those things? One billion people live in slums or informal settlements where water for basic needs is in short supply – let alone 20 seconds worth – and where space is constrained and rooms are often shared. Yet discussion about vulnerability in these contexts has been startlingly absent.

A recent IIED blog raised the issue of poor infrastructure in ‘slums’ and informal settlements and rightly concluded that an overhaul of urban planning and development is needed to bring about improved infrastructure and public health. But in the meantime, we need to consider how COVID-19 could impact people living in densely populated and unsanitary environments, and what could mitigate the worst of these impacts. This is challenging as the health and social needs of these populations are often invisible.

So what are the health experiences, challenges and priorities of people in informal settlements? How do residents organise to address existing health threats? And how does this provide a basis for a COVID-19 response? These are the questions IDS and SLURC have been exploring as part of an ESRC research project on post-Ebola urban health in Sierra Leone, and also in a new GCRF funded hub on Accountability for Informal Urban Equity – ARISE.

Some of the insights from this research and some potential lessons for COVID-19.

How Are Cities Dealing With The COVID-19 Outbreak?

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More than half the world’s population live in urban areas. Cities are hubs for transnational businesses and traffic movements. When infectious disease outbreaks occur, cities accelerate the spread and transmission of the disease through increased human contact. But cities also play a central role in preparing for, mitigating and adapting to pandemics. Those that are open, transparent, collaborative and adopt comprehensive responses are better equipped to manage pandemics than those that are not. This article explores why cities like Taipei and Singapore seemed better prepared to deal with the current COVID-19 outbreak and why it is important to learn from past pandemics.

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The Covid-19 pandemic from an urban planning perspective

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From an urban planning perspective, epidemics historically have always left their traces in our cities. Now COVID-19 joins a long list of infectious diseases – such as the Spanish flu of 1918 in New York and Mexico City or the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014.

CityLab has talked to Michele Acuto, Professor of Global Urban Politics at the University of Melbourne, about the intersections of urban planning and public health in the age of digitalization and globalization.

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Sustainable Urban Transport in Latin America

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As the central importance of mobility to issues such as equity, climate impact and health is increasingly recognised, sustainable urban transport is becoming ever more relevant throughout the world. In Latin America and the Caribbean in particular, there are multiple urban mobility challenges to be addressed, requiring implementation of effective policies and innovative ideas. This publication will explore challenges and opportunities specific to the Latin American context, with the aim of providing guidance on how to improve mobility conditions for the region’s urban residents and contribute to sustainability targets.

Climate Resilience and Urban Development

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Many cities in the Latin American region have been pioneers in the implementation of environmental measures and policies, as well as in resilience building and adaptation of their territories to the incre- asing effects of climate change. Planning for the future is key for the well-being of our communities, and we need to continue working with and for them in order to mitigate and adapt to the impact that climate change will continue to have on our territories in the coming decades.

This peer-learning note summarizes good practices of Latin American cities with a focus on four different thematic areas: risk assessment, comprehensive planning, finance, and citizen engagement. The practices were discussed during our ConnectiveCities peer-learning event hosted by the city of Niteroi, Brazil between November 26-28, 2019.

More information: 

• Read the Peer Learning Note 26 about Climate Resilience and Urban Development in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.
• Short documentation with all presentations and pictures of the events

Handbook for Gender-Inclusive Urban Planning and Design 2020

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Urban planning and design shape the environment around us – and that environment, in turn, shapes how we live, work, play, move, and rest.

Cities have historically been planned and designed for men and by men. They tend to reflect traditional gender roles and gendered division of labor. In general, cities work better for heterosexual, able-bodied, cisgender men than they do for women, girls, sexual and gender minorities, and people with disabilities.

The Handbook for Gender-Inclusive Urban Planning and Design seeks to respond to these urgent questions: how might we design and plan cities that work well for everyone? What would such a city look like, and how would we go about creating it? By showing why to incorporate gender inclusion into urban planning and design it sets out practical approaches, activities, and design guidelines that show how to do this.

Reclaiming Play in Cities Report

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The report, launched at the 10th World Urban Forum, reviews the evidence around learning through play and the impact that city and urban environments have on children’s access to play and ultimately, their overall development.

Play is increasingly being recognised as the engine of optimal child development, future happiness and achievement. Modern play has become a multi-dimensional, multilayered experience, where narratives and characters flow easily between different play-spaces. From virtual, online and augmented life-worlds into the physical domain and back again, play has become a seamless set of interlinked experiences and opportunities for learning and pleasure.

It is therefore imperative that we design and build cities that meet the needs of children: seeking their input during the design process, providing them with access to play and education, and facilitating their social and cultural interactions.

To better understand the complexity of play in cities and support the design of play-based interventions for children optimal development the report offers a first-of-its-kind Urban Play Framework. The Urban Play Framework assesses four Dimensions
critical to ensure a play-friendly environment for optimal childhood development: they focus on children’s needs, time and opportunity to play, the support and facilitation that enable Learning through Play, and the socio-cultural and urban systems that contribute to play in cities.