Category: COVID-19

Towards a gender-sensitive city – first group meetings

Posted on by erik

On 24 September, the launch event “Towards a gender-sensitive city” with about 45 participants from 8 countries laid the foundation for the formation of various working groups.

Professionals, including those who could not attend this event, are now cordially invited: Join the working groups and benefit from collegial advice, international good practices from Vienna, Barcelona and other cities, international consultation, work on your project idea/challenge and participate in at least 4 meetings with international peers. Starting on 30 September 2021 with workshops on the following topics:

Gender-sensitive urban planning and development, 16:00 – 17:00 Uhr MESZ

Urban approaches combating domestic violence, 16:00 – 17:00 Uhr MESZ

Gender responsive urban mobility, 17:30 – 18:00 Uhr MESZ

To the overview, further information and registration on the Connective Cites Community Platform.

More information, latest news and good practices on the topic: Gender sensitivity in the pandemic

Building mental health resilience during times of COVID-19

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Since the outbreak of the global pandemic, municipalities have faced a multitude of challenges. Following prolonged lockdowns, travel restrictions, financial losses and job cuts, mental health problems have been on the rise.

Municipalities have been key players in fighting the spread of the virus and in managing the overall situation. As a result of these complex responsibilities, mental health issues, including burn out, have been observed among municipal employees, social workers, teachers, and civil society activists. Citizens have also been psychologically affected by the pandemic and are in need of support.

Connective Cities cordially invites you to participate in the virtual Public Health Cluster kick-off on “Building Mental Health Resilience during times of COVID-19” on  29 September 2021, from 15:30 to 17:30 CEST (Berlin Time).

The event will cover the following issues:

  • What are municipal challenges in the field of mental health, and why is the topic relevant?
  • What are the recommended actions to promote mental health in municipalities, also considering limited financial resources?
  • What can municipalities do to mitigate the mental health impacts of the pandemic?
  • How can different target groups be reached, including those for whom mental health is considered taboo?

The event is aimed at international municipal actors from local governments, civil society, business and academia who wish to share their challenges and good practices in the field of public health.

The aim is to present municipal challenges and practical examples and to develop new solution approaches through a joint exchange. The kick-off event lays the foundation for the formation of working groups that will further develop these solutions through collective consultation and with the support of regional and international experts.

In order to learn more about your experiences and wishes for the workshop, we kindly ask you to fill out this short questionnaire (5-7 min): Survey Mental Health | Connective Cities Network (also available in Arabic, German & Spanish). The results will be presented anonymously during the event.

To register for the workshop and stay updated on the agenda, the announcement of speakers and further details of the session, please visit our Connective Cities Community.

Please also visit our COVID 19 topic pages. Here you will find more event information, videos, good practices and publications, including on public health.

We are looking forward to your participation!

Public Health Cluster kick-off “Building mental health resilient during times of COVID-19”

Date: 29 September 2021

Time: 15:30 – 17:30 CEST (Berlin time)

Event Language: English. Translation into German, Arabic and Spanish (tbc)

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Contact: Paulina.koschmieder@giz.de

Thinking and acting beyond disasters

Posted on by erik

The COVID-19 pandemic and the occurrence of natural disasters in many parts of the world have profound implications for human lives, infrastructures, and communities. Municipalities are usually the first to respond to disasters, so adequate crisis management at the local level is urgently needed.

Connective Cities cordially invites you to participate in the virtual Crisis Management Cluster kick-off on “Thinking and Acting beyond Disasters” on 28 September 2021, from 15:30 to 17:30 CEST (Berlin Time).

The event has been designed together with urban practitioners and for the practical work in the municipalities. The following topics have been initially identified in the area of Disaster Management:

  1. Setting up systems for disaster management (measures, roles, structure, use of IT etc.)
  2. Public sensitization and communication
  3. Involvement of volunteers and civil society
  4. Creation of risk culture at the municipal and public level
  5. Disaster management in specific action areas, such as the breakdown of critical infrastructure, floods, or fire.

On this basis, the following questions will be discussed in the kick-off workshop:

  • What are typical challenges on a municipal level concerning disaster management?
  • How to prepare for disasters?
  • How to set up disaster management, even with low (human and financial) resources?

Contents & Speakers:

  • Mr. Henning Schulz, former mayor of the German city of Gütersloh, who will provide an overview of disaster management from a municipal viewpoint and report about his experiences on disaster management during the COVID-19 pandemic and innovative solutions.
  • Mr. Felix Richter, CEO of Kompetus Consulting, who has more than 20 years of project experience in management consulting for the public sector and is a former trainer for the Academy for International Cooperation (AIZ) for experts travelling to fragile countries. He will provide an overview of crises management planning and execution for municipalities – from a practical perspective.

The event is aimed at international municipal actors from local governments, civil society, business and academia who wish to share their challenges and good practices in the field of crisis management.

The aim is to present municipal challenges and practical examples and to develop new solution approaches through a joint exchange. The kick-off event lays the foundation for the formation of working groups that will further develop these solutions through collective consultation and with the support of regional and international experts.

In order to learn more about your experiences and needs concerning disaster management, we kindly ask you to fill out the following short questionnaire (5-7 min):

Disaster Managment Questionnaire (also available in German, Spanish and Arabic). The results will be presented anonymously during the event. 

To register for the workshop and stay updated on the agenda and further details of the session, please visit our Connective Cities Community.

Please also visit our COVID 19 topic pages. Here you will find more event information, videos, good practices and publications, including on crisis management.

We are looking forward to your active participation!

Crisis Management Cluster kick-off “Thinking and acting beyond disasters”

Date: 28 September 2021

Time: 15:30 – 17:30 CEST (Berlin time)

Event language: English. Translation into German, Spanish, Arabic

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Contact: Paulina.koschmieder@giz.de

Good Practice from Landshut, Germany: Assisted Learning

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We visited Landshut, where we talked with various actors involved in and crucial for the successful running of the project project Betreutes Lernen. “Betreutes Lernen” translates to “Assisted Learning” in English and offers children overwhelmed by the challenges of digital learning, a possibility to catch up on their curriculum and regain an urgently needed daily structure. Since the beginning of the project, it has been perceived as big success by pupils, teachers and staff hence ensuring the learning progress of children during the lockdown when schools are closed.

Watch video at YouTube: https://youtu.be/1uDJCkrC-ok

More videos, interviews and podcasts at our COVID-19-topical page

Female power at the Insight Session on digital literacy

Posted on by erik

On August 18, the event “Digital literacy and digital municipal service design” took place virtually in the Connective Cities Community, with over 45 participants from Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Germany, Kenya and Zambia, among others. Particularly noteworthy was the high level of female participation at the event. All three presentations were given by women, a good sign that the once purely male-dominated IT sector is slowly opening, and that people of all genders can contribute their innovative ideas. The event is part of the series “Insight Sessions: (Post-)COVID Urban Futures”, which facilitates a recurring exchange on various topics of sustainable urban development in the (post-)COVID-19 era between urban practitioners worldwide. In brief and concise exchange formats space is created to initiate reflection and present innovative solutions to local challenges.

The focus of the current event was on how municipal practitioners deal with the topic of digital literacy. The rapid digitisation process during the COVID-19 pandemic has excluded large parts of the population who either lack digital literacy or do not have access to the hardware to participate. This problem is particularly relevant for municipalities as they have an obligation to include all citizens in their activities and enable them to participate in society. The (new?) digital divide is evident in education, communication and many other aspects.

Programme

After a short insight into this year’s Connective Cities COVID-19 programme, Eva Schweitzer from the German Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) introduced the topic in her keynote “Smart cities and digital literacy”. In addition to a brief presentation of the Smart City Charter, which aims to ensure the digital inclusion and integration of citizens, she also presented the Civic Living Lab in Oldenburg as a positive example, where the digital skills of the population are to be strengthened through digital scavenger hunts, among other things.

Afterwards, Josephine Miliza, co-founder of TunapandaNET, presented a good practice on community networks in Kibera, Kenya. TunapandaNET is a low-cost community network run by the Tunapanda Institute that aims to build a digital ecosystem to address digital inequalities. TunapandaNET has 30 hotspots within the community, with each centre serving 50 to 500 users.

Another good practice was presented by Samar Baba, co-founder and former chair of IEEE Sight Tunisia. SIGHT is a network of IEEE volunteers worldwide that works with underserved communities and local organisations to use technology for sustainable development. In Tunisia SIGHT implemented the Tawasol project, which aims to create a connected Tunisia through the creation of digital infrastructure and educational projects and develop new leaders who can bring about effective social change.

Finally, the Connective Cities working groups on digitalisation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic were presented. Among other things, they deal with the digital divide and public service design optimisation. Click here for more information if you want to be part of one of the working groups.

Presentations

Keynote Smart Cities and digital literacy, Eva Schweitzer

Good Practice: Keeping communities online during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kibera, Kenya, Josephine Miliza

Good Practices from IEEE worldwide on digital literacy, Samar Baba

The recording of the event can be found here: Insight Session: Digital literacy and digital municipal service design | Connective Cities Network (connective-cities.net)

Outlook

In the coming weeks, more Insight Sessions on exciting topics around COVID-19 Recovery will take place:

08.09.2021: Insight Session: Pop-up bike lanes – Long-term opportunities for green urban development?

29.09.2021: Insight Session: Crisis Management – Cross Border Solidarity in time of crisis

Wir laden Sie herzlich ein, an diesen Veranstaltungen teilzunehmen!

Pop-up bike lanes: long-term opportunities for green urban development after the Covid-19 pandemic?

Posted on by erik

The event series “Insight Sessions: Post-COVID Urban Futures” is part of this year’s Connective Cities COVID programme and facilitates a regular, open exchange on relevant topics of the post-COVID-19 era for municipal practitioners and relevant experts worldwide. Different topics of sustainable urban development during and after the COVID-19 pandemic will be discussed and innovative approaches in this regard will be shared in brief and concise virtual exchange formats. The aim of these events is to provide impulses that encourage participants to reflect on their progress so far and think about innovative solutions. The open discussion rounds will take place on Wednesdays once every three weeks. 

We are pleased to invite you to the fourth event in the series on “Pop-up bike lanes: long-term opportunities for green urban development after the Covid-19 pandemic?” on Wednesday, September 8th, 2021, from 15:30 to 17:00 CEST.

They appeared suddenly: bike lanes separated by yellow markings and conspicuous warning bars, replacing parking lanes, parts of the roadways or even the entire right lanes on busy roads. Following the example of the Colombian capital Bogotá, dozens of kilometers of new bike lanes have been built in cities around the world after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bike lanes allow urban residents to get more physical activity and offer hope for a shift towards a more sustainable urban mobility and transportation and a reduction of CO2 emissions in cities. As a result, many users want the pop-up bike lanes to remain in place after the pandemic and urban researchers and practitioners value them as a great opportunity for a more climate friendly and healthy urban development and a paradigm shift in urban mobility in the post-COVID era.

However, there is also criticism on the new bike lanes. Motorists fear more congestion and longer travel times with increased traffic after the COVID-19 pandemic, as the pop-up bike lanes lead to fewer lanes are available for cars. This would also contradict the plan to improve air quality. This would also contradict the plan to improve air quality. There are also fears of more accidents when cars and bicyclists meet in close quarters. As a result, the cities of Berlin and Munich, for example, have had to contend with lawsuits against the preservation of pop-up bike lanes.

In this session insights into good practices of cities and the challenges they are facing will be presented. Discussions on the pop-up bike lanes and their long-term preservation will be stimulated and urban practitioners worldwide will exchange and be made aware of the opportunities of more bike lanes for green urban development in the post-COVID era.

To register for the event and stay updated on the agenda, the announcement of speakers and further details of the session please follow:  

Insight Session: Pop-up bike lanes - Long-term opportunities for green urban development? | Connective Cities Network (connective-cities.net)  

Date: Wednesday, September 8th

Time: 15:30-17:00 CEST

Event language: English (translation tba)

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Contact: angela.beckmann-wuebbelt@giz.de

Crisis Management – Cross Border Solidarity in time of crisis

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The event series “Insight Sessions: Post-COVID Urban Futures” is part of this year’s Connective Cities Corona programme and facilitates a regular, open exchange on relevant topics of the post-COVID-19 era for municipal practitioners and relevant experts worldwide. Different topics of sustainable urban development during and after the COVID-19 pandemic will be discussed and innovative approaches in this regard will be shared in brief and concise virtual exchange formats. The aim of these events is to provide impulses that encourage participants to reflect on their progress so far and think about innovative solutions. The open discussion rounds will take place on Wednesdays once every three weeks. 

We are pleased to invite you to the fifth event in the series on „Crisis Management – Cross Border Solidarity in time of crisis“ on Wednesday, September 29st, 2021 from 10:00 – 11:30 CEST.

The Covid-19 pandemic challenge international cooperation. Namely, border closure at the beginning of the pandemic, different national regulations and the lack of adequate communication tools made collaboration difficult. Moreover, not only the pandemic but also conflicts and political dynamics challenge cooperation between cities, countries, and neighbour regions. Cities cooperation can play and certainly played an essential role during the pandemic. Cooperation between cities can strenghen multilaterlism as municipalities have, in comparison to national governance, often a closer partnership with other cities and can react faster to crises. At the beginning of the Covid-outbreak, cities worldwide supported each other, e.g., by admission of patients in hospitals and donations.

The session will focus on international cross-border solidarity among cities in times of crisis and beyond. Challenges and opportunities from cities cooperation will be discussed, and best practices and lessons learned will be presented from different world regions.

A detailed agenda will be provided shortly. The event will take place virtually in the Connective Cities Community.

Date: Wednesday, September 29th

Time: 10:00-11:30 CEST (tba)

Event language: English, German

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Contact: paulina.koschmieder@giz.de

The city of Krusevac during the pandemic

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Krusevac, a city in the heart of Serbia, took multiple actions during the pandemic to protect its approximately 58,000 inhabitants. The city’s crisis management included preventive measures. For instance, disinfectants in 200 large canisters were placed throughout the city and made available to the population free of charge, and the public enterprise “Veterinary Station Krusevac” disinfected public facilities. Furthermore, public health was an integral part of crisis management. Namely, the municipality of Krusevac built a temporary hospital with 150 beds in a sports hall to treat people with mild disease progression. In addition, a larger hospital with 500 beds was built after the first wave to be prepared for the second wave of the pandemic. 

For an effective and fast implementation of the COVID measures, not only the involvement of different stakeholders, such as the Serbian military, public enterprises, and the political administration of the city, but also the protection of vulnerable and at-risk groups was vital. Therefore, Krusevac organised and coordinated a volunteer service. Volunteers packed and distributed 62,175 food rations to pensioners, single parents during the first three months of the pandemic. Moreover, the city provided taxis to deliver food and medicine to people in need.

By now (as of July 2021), about 45 percent of Krusevac residents are fully vaccinated. In the coming months, the municipality will mainly focus on keeping interest in vaccination high in order to achieve herd immunity. 

The city of Krusevac is also working on sustainable and inclusive mobility concepts, for example by building new bicycle paths.

Further Information: 

Presentation: CITY OF KRUSEVAC  [PDF, 5mb]
THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND EMERGENCY SITUATIONS

Veranstaltungsaufzeichnung in Englisch (Präsentation Krusevac beginnt bei der Minute 92:00): „Infection Chain Tracing in Southeast Europe (SEE) and Caucasus“ (Nur für Registrierte auf der Connective Cities Plattform) 

Contact

Dusan Todorovic,
Head of the Department of Defense and Emergency situations
dusan.todorovic@krusevac.rs

COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control in the cardiovascular hospital in Shanxi, China

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The Shanxi Cardiovascular Hospital was founded in 1980 and is affiliated with the Shanxi Medical University. In addition to medical treatment, the hospital focuses on research, education and pre- and postoperative care.  

The hospital has about 1,300 inpatient beds, over 1500 employees and normally treats over 250,000 outpatients and 35,000 inpatients a year. The Department of Cardiology has been authorized as the National Key Clinical Specialty, Key Medical Discipline of Shanxi Province, Shanxi Provincial Quality Control Centre for Cardiovascular Interventional Diagnosis and Treatment, amongst others.

Over 6000 percutaneous coronary intervention – PCI – cases including over 1000 Primary PCIs are performed in this centre each year. Radiofrequency – RF – ablation and pacemaker implantation are accomplished in around 1,500 and 1,000 patients every year. Over 1500 cases of various cardiovascular surgeries are performed each year in the hospital.

Upon the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, the hospital established an effective pandemic preparedness and control strategy, including the following:   

  • Routine meetings on analysis of fever patients in hospital 
  • Various forms of COVID-19 prevention and control training in the hospital 
  • Standardised reporting of fever patients and suspicious cases 
  • Strengthened surveillance and inspection of prevention and control work 
  • Strengthened hospital-acquired infection control 

The existing pandemic response plan is continuously improved and adapted to the current situation. This enables the hospital to react quickly to changes in the incidence and to integrate new scientific findings into the measures. The holistic approach of the measures, the use of digital management systems and an effective hygiene concept have reduced the number of patients infected with COVID-19 drastically. 

The experience of the Shanxi Cardiovascular Hospital shows that comprehensive planning, scientific prevention and control, as well as adherence to the “four early” principles (early detection, early diagnosis, early isolation and early treatment) are effective methods to contain the spread of the virus. International exchange and learning from each other’s experiences is important to further combat the virus effectively in the future.

Contact 

Wang Fei MD, PhD

Cardiovascular Department

Shanxi Cardiovascular Hospital

No.18, Yifen Street, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, P.R. of China

Zipcode: 030024

Phone: +86-13453189752   

Further Information 

COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control in a cardiovascular hospital in Shanxi, China (PDF)   

Event Recording (Presentation on Shanxi starts min. 37:00): „Infection Chains & Mobile Testing | Connective Cities Network (connective-cities.net)“ (only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform)

Successful launch of the event series “Insight Sessions: Post-COVID Urban Futures”

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On 28 July 2021, the virtual event series “Insight Sessions: (Post-)COVID Urban Futures” started with an exciting kick-off event on “COVID-19 Recovery & SDG 11”. The event series is part of this year’s Connective Cities COVID-19 programme and facilitates a reoccurring exchange between urban practitioners worldwide on various topics of sustainable urban development in the (post-)COVID-19 era. 

The COVID-19 Recovery & SDG 11 launch event took place virtually in the Connective Cities community with over 80 participants, including from Germany, Lebanon, Georgia, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Jordan and Palestine.

Programme

The event started with a brief overview of the Connective Cities COVID-19 programme 2021, including funding opportunities from Engagement Global/ SKEW. This was followed by a panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities of the COVID-19 crisis for achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 of making cities sustainable, safe, inclusive and resilient. The following urban practitioners shared their knowledge and perspectives on this topic:

  1. Faola Hodaj, Director of Innovation, Municipality of Tirana, Albania 
  2. Karim Elgendy, Sustainable City Strategist, London UK / MENA – Recipient of the 2013 Global Green Building Entrepreneurship Award by the World Green Building Council 
  3. Aditya Kumar, Executive Director, NGO Development Action Group, Cape Town, South Africa 
  4. Hilmar von Lojewski, Head of the Department of Urban Development, Building, Housing and Transport, Association of German Cities, Berlin, Germany 

The panel discussion focused on municipal innovation and digitisation processes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and their contribution to achieving SDG 11. Furthermore, the main lessons of the pandemic for resilient urban planning and sustainable housing in German and international municipalities were elaborated. Building on this, the panelists discussed the challenges that the pandemic has created for the provision of adequate housing and basic services in informal settlements. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent flood in Germany was also part of the panel discussion. It was evaluated which strategies and measures municipalities can take to increase their resilience to future climate-related risks. The discussion was followed by a Q&A session in which the panelists answered and commented on questions and contributions from the audience. In a short survey at the end of the session, participants expressed their interest on the most important COVID-19-related municipal challenges and the desired topics for the next Insight Sessions.

Results

The panel discussion emphasised that municipal innovation and digitalisation processes should be inclusive, participatory and transparent in order to maximise the contribution to urban sustainability and resilience. It was also highlighted that agile and adaptive local governments and integrated ways of working are needed to find effective responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve SDG 11 in the long term. Regarding the recent flood disaster in Germany and other parts of the world, it was also pointed out that evidence-based, agile and responsive municipal crisis management is key to resilient urban development. 

In addition, it was discussed that the COVID-19 pandemic has tended to contribute to a suburbanisation process of cities through increased home office work opportunities and social distancing measures. On the other hand, it was revealed that the pandemic has also contributed to an increase in the importance of the neighbourhood in urban life, laying the groundwork for mixed-use urban development and “15-minute cities”.

Using the example of Cape Town, South Africa, it was also highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic tended to have a devastating impact on informal settlements. It was argued that the COVID-19-related lockdowns have undermined the socio-economic situation of many, especially informal, urban dwellers, which in turn has led to a deterioration in the food and housing security of these residents. In order to improve the socio-economic well-being and resilience of these informal settlements, the need for responsive local governments and citizen participation in development projects was highlighted. 

Presentation

Insight Session: COVID 19 Recovery & SDG 11  [pdf, 24 Seiten, 2mb]

Outlook

The event was the kick-off for the new series of “Insight Sessions: (Post-)COVID Urban Futures”, which will take place on Wednesdays every three weeks and to which we cordially invite you. In the upcoming Insight Session on Wednesday 18 August 2021, we will focus on the topic of “Digital literacy and digital municipal Service design in (Post-)COVID Cities“. Further, there will be a special session on 25 August on “The importance of disaster preparedness in cities and municipalities: experiences and lessons learned“. Information on the programme of upcoming events will be available soon on our website and in the Connective Cities Community.

We are looking forward to welcoming you in the events!