Category: COVID-19

Waste Management in Vushtrri, Kosovo

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The strategy and implementation of waste management in the city of Vushtrri before and during the pandemic

The city of Vushtrri in north-eastern Kosovo, with around 70.000 inhabitants and an area of 345km2, has significantly improved its waste management, waste separation and recycling in the last three years. While about three years ago, only 40 percent of the territory had access to waste disposal, today it is 100 percent. In addition, illegal waste dumpsite has been reduced thanks to the government from 100 to 11.

How could this outstanding achievement be made? In Kosovo, the municipalities are responsible for waste disposal according to the law. Vushtrri cooperates with the company “RWC Uniteti” for this purpose and has provided each house with a waste bin free of charge. Moreover, citizens in remote parts of Vushtrri also pay the same prices for the service as within the city, although the logistics costs are higher. In this way, the city succeeds in protecting vulnerable groups. Another vital component of Vuhsstri’s success is education. Environmental protection and waste management are addressed in all schools, for example, in so-called “Green Clubs” where pupils carry out projects on recycling.

The Covid-19 pandemic posed many challenges to the implementation of waste management in the city of Vushtrri. One challenge was the loss of revenue last year. Shops and businesses that had to close for several months due to the pandemic and families living in difficult socio-economic conditions could not always afford the cost of the waste management service. In addition, the already unstable price for the sale of recycled waste has been erratic and falling.

How did the city respond to this challenging situation? Vushtrri waived the cost of waste management for all families living in difficult socio-economic conditions from March to December 2020. In addition, an online payment system was introduced. Furthermore, the new waste management action plan 2021-2025 will take into account the lessons learned from the pandemic.

Further Information:

Current Situation of the Waste Management System in Vushtrri (pdf, 980 kb)

Recording of the event (Presentation on Vushtrri starts min. 40): Managing solid waste during the pandemic (Only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform)  https://community.connective-cities.net/node/468

Contact:

Xhafer Tahiri
Mayor
Vushtrri municipality
Republic of Kosovo
xhafer.sh.tahiri@rks-gov.net

Municipal experts wanted: Dialogue event on Covid-19 and urban mobility

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Connective Cities is organising a three-day dialogue event in collaboration with the City of Wiesbaden, Germany, and UN-Habitat on 19th, 20th and 22nd July 2021. The online sessions are scheduled for 3.5 hours (including breaks), from 13:00 to 16:30 CEST.

The event is aimed at municipal actors from Germany and other countries (municipal administrations, municipal enterprises, civil society, business and academia) who are working on the impacts of Covid-19 on urban mobility and looking for innovative solutions for a post-pandemic future. The highly interactive event gives municipal practitioners involved in urban planning or municipal transport the opportunity to discuss projects and ideas, which are currently being implemented or planned in their municipality.

Thematic focus:

  • Sustainable urban logistics: Impulses for green logistics solutions during and after the pandemic;
  • Cycling/bicycle traffic: Reassessing urban space and the role of cycling for urban mobility;
  • Local public transport: Rethinking financing models and regaining passengers’ trust.

If your city is currently working on or wishes to work on different aspects of urban mobility and Covid-19 and you would like to actively participate in the event, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Objectives of the three-day event:

  • Day 1: To share and discuss examples and good practices from German and international municipalities;
  • Day 2: To exchange ideas for solutions through peer-to-peer consultation on identified challenges;
  • Day 3: To jointly develop project ideas for further cooperation in response to these challenges.

The working language of the event is English. Translation into other languages may be provided on demand. Participation is free of charge and the deadline for application is 9th June, 2021. For more information on the event please read the full “Call for Participants” [pdf, 440 kb, 4 pp.].

If you are interested in actively participating and contributing to the event or have any questions, please contact us:

Alice Balbo, Alice.balbo@staedtetag.de, +49 (0)221-3771-573

Nikola Krause, Nikola.krause@engagement-global.de, +49 (0)228-20717-2672

Thiago Garcia, Thiago.garcia@engagement-global.de, +49 (0)228-20717-2633

Tourism in Nepal and the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Located in the Himalayas, the mountainous nation of Nepal, with a population of about 30 million, is one of the poorest countries in Asia. The country has little economic power and relies on foreign currency, which is mainly generated through tourism. The unique mountain scenery in the Himalayas, the historic cities in the Kathmandu Valley and the birthplace of Buddha in Lumbini attract millions of tourists every year. For the year 2020, which was declared the year of tourism by the Nepalese government, Nepal expected more than two million tourists – until the Corona pandemic broke out.

Within just a few weeks, the previously thriving tourism industry collapsed and over 230,000 jobs in the tourism sector were at risk. In a country where only ten percent of employees are members of social security schemes, this has serious impact on the economy and the population.

Patan (Lalitpur Metropolitan City), located in the Kathmandu Valley, whose central Durbar Square is a Unesco World Heritage Site, had to consider new strategies for the hard-hit tourism industry. While currently the country’s borders are still closed and there is no international tourism in Nepal, the city has taken steps to boost tourism in Patan in the long term and at least partially offset the loss of income in the short term.

Among other things, Patan is trying to promote domestic tourism. The historical center is of interest to locals, who can discover the city’s history, which is often unknown even to them, on guided tours.

The city is also bridging the time until international tourists can visit Nepal again with preparatory measures. For example, old, historic buildings are being renovated and local cuisine and home stays are being marketed. A night market will also be held in the center of Patan in the future. By offering a wider range of products, Patan is to become even more attractive to local and international tourists in the future.

The city is working closely with key tourism stakeholders to develop a strategy for this current transition phase.

However, the measures taken in Patan presuppose that the national borders will soon be reopened and that international tourism, especially from India and China, can resume.

Further information

Responding to COVID -19 Challenges- How Nepal’s Tourism Sector, in collaboration with the local cities, is finding its way out
Deepak Adhikary, Principal Consultant and CEO, Frontline Development Solutions, USA

Good Practice: Strategies and Actions to get Tourist back to Patan (Nepal)
Prafulla Pradhan, Advisor, Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Nepal

Event Recording (Presentations on Nepal start min. 63): Tourism Sector addressing the Pandemic – Working with Local Municipalities (Only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform)

Contact

Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Nepal info@lmc.gov.np

Call for participants: Municipal Response to COVID-19 in the Business Sector

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Together with Policy and Management Consulting Group (PMCG), Connective Cities hereby invites municipal experts to the international exchange event – Connective Cities virtual exchange in direction of business.
What does post COVID -19 era hold for business? What potential does this have for municipalities, and how can they leverage the change?

The event is designed for the region of Southeast Europe and for international actors from municipalities and local business experts to talk about the effectiveness of business recovery plans on municipal level during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This Connective Cities event will set out to facilitate an international dialogue that compares regional and municipal approaches, solutions  and good practices of quick business recovery.

Key Parts of the conference

To facilitate discussion of the broad field on a practical level, the Connective Cities dialogue event will be broken down to three specific parts:

  • Presenting methodology and results of the study on COVID-19 business responses within the Connective Cities network
  • Practitioners’ exchange – presentations of good practices in direction of business
  • Interactive panel on the effectiveness of business recovery plans on municipal level during the COVID-19 pandemic

Language of the event is English.

Further Information: Agenda [pdf]

How to take part in the conference, and who to contact

If you would like to actively participate in the event, you are cordially invited to apply for a place.

Please send us an email indicating your position and organisation. We welcome participation by up to two experts per municipality who are actively working on business recovery measures.

If you have any questions concerning the event or the process of taking part, please get in touch with us:

Elene Samukashvili, Elene.samukashvili@giz.de

‘Digital Shop Window’, Darmstadt

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The Covid-19 pandemic posed significant challenges for retailers and restaurants. During the lockdown, also small local shops in Germany had to close temporarily. In the south of Hesse, the City Darmstadt responded successfully with the “Digital Shop Window” project. Retailers and restaurateurs can offer their goods and services on the city’s central shopping platform. 

The project was already launched in 2019 with around 25 participating shops and restaurants. After the pandemic began, the German city intensified its efforts to expand the platform because interest increased significantly. Currently, over 500 local restaurants and shops are represented, and the platform registers around 700 hits per day. Interested citizens have access to the businesses’ contact details, opening hours, social media channels, and the online shop on the platform.

What led to the success of the “Digital Shop Window”? A key component was the networking of other city projects with the platform. For example, the so-called “Darmstadt City Voucher” has been integrated online. Moreover, Darmstadt offers free delivery of products.  Local events, such as an art market or the city’s wine festival, are also advertised on the website. Since the traders themselves are responsible for their contributions and data, the “Digital Shop Window” always remains up to date.  

Another success factor was that Darmstadt photographed the traders free of charge to personalise online shopping. The pictures make the “Digital Shop Window” much more personal than other online shopping sites, such as Amazon. The personalisation also increased solidarity with the traders within the population. “Digital Shop Window” will certainly have its raison d’être even after the pandemic and make local shopping attractive. 

Further Information:

Good Practice “Digitales Schaufenster” Digitised shopping windows (pdf)

Event Recording (Presentation on Darmstadt starts min. 83): The role of digitalised public services as reactions to the COVID 19-pandemic (Only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform)

Digital Shop Window: https://www.darmstadt-citymarketing.de/digitales-schaufenster/

Contact:

Agnes Allig, City and tourism marketing
Wissenschaftsstadt Darmstadt Marketing GmbH
Elisabethenstraße 20-22
64283 Darmstadt
Germany
+49-(0)6151-134510
touristikmarketing@darmstadt.de

Streets for all – Glasgow’s new avenues

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The pandemic has fundamentally changed all our daily lives. Instead of meeting indoors, we meet outside and instead of taking the bus or train, we use the bicycle or sometimes the car. Cities need to respond to this change in population behavior. Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, whose central streets have long been reserved for car traffic, has met this challenge by taking extensive measures to create more space for cyclists and pedestrians and new central green spaces.

During the pandemic, space for cyclists and pedestrians in Glasgow was provisionally separated from the streets with plastic elements, giving them more space. By doing so, the city successfully responded to the new needs of its residents.

But in the long term the streetscapes suffer from the unsightly plastic elements. However, for the quality of life in a city and the well-being of its residents not only the functionality but also the beauty of the city is important. That’s why the long-term avenue strategy in Glasgow’s city center calls for the creation of 21 streets with continuous bicycle and pedestrian paths in combination with extensive greening by 2027. The new avenues will link central locations and better connect adjacent neighborhoods. The greening will beautify the streets, which were often completely concreted before, and more space for pedestrians and cyclists will significantly reduce motorized traffic.

Thus, not only does the functionality of the street adapt to the new needs of the population, but the new avenues are also visually much more attractive. This increases the attractiveness of the location for retailers and the quality of stay in the public space. Combined with new technologies, such as individually controllable LED lighting, the center of Glasgow is thus made fit for the future.

More Information

Glasgows Avenue Strategy & the Role of Beauty in Public Spaces (PDF)

Event Recording (Presentation on Glasgow starts min. 78): COVID-19 – A chance for urban green recovery? (Only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform)

Contact:

Jamie Shields, Development and Regeneration Services, Glasgow City Council, UK  jamie.shields@glasgow.gov.uk

Paola Pasino, Development and Regeneration Services, Glasgow City Council, UK paola.pasino@glasgow.gov.uk

Municipal Response to COVID-19: Driving Smart City Development

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On 29th of April a virtual workshop on Smart City Development took place as part of the ongoing applied research project “Research of good practices and moderation of virtual events on the subject of health, business and governance at municipal level in times of COVID-19”. 

Workshop centered on overviewing the EU Green Deal Agenda, smart cities models and concepts, as well as advantages of accelerating digitalization processes and financial attraction possibilities in the period of a pandemic.

Approximately 15 participants from Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Philippines, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia took part in the workshop.

The event focused on

  • Presenting the concept of European Green Deal
  • Introducing Smart cities development models and concepts
  • Providing digitalization solutions for municipalities in the pandemic period
  • Highlighting possible sources of financing
  • Providing conclusions and possible next step suggestions

After the event all attendees were given certificates of completion of the workshop.

Program

This virtual event was opened by welcoming remarks made by Dr. Piotr Żuber, Project Team Leader, PMCG. Dr. Żuber provided background information of the workshop and briefly overviewed the agenda. Following the introduction, Ms. Daiva Matonienė, International Consultant, advanced into the core sessions.

Two main topics of the sessions were:

  • Smart city development: innovations and key drivers
  • Acceleration of digitalization processes in the pandemic period

After each session, active discussions were held on relevant topics, where participants were given floor to present their practices and share challenges in the Smart City Development processes from their municipalities.

Presentations

European Green Deal and Smart City Development
Ms. Daiva Matonienė, International Consultant

Improvement of local actors, project management in Lithuania
Mr. Arunas Grazulis, Expert of Public Policy and European Union programmes

Smart cities development models and concepts
Ms. Daiva Matonienė, International Consultant

Digitalization- the future is today
Ms. Daiva Matonienė, International Consultant

“ALL-IN-ONE” solution suite for smart municipalities
Mr. Edgaras Engelmanas, Head of Export, IRTC

International practices of the deposit refund system
Ms. Daiva Matonienė, International Consultant

Financial attraction possibilities
Ms. Daiva Matonienė, International Consultant

Results

During this online workshop representatives from multitudes of municipalities exchanged their experiences and insights in the field of smart city development.

Participants were introduced to topics such as: development of green recovery plan, innovative tools for digitalization and public-private partnership. At the same time attendees were given some recommendations on atracting potential donors and funds as well as tips on steps forward. Contact information of field experts, as well as companies experienced in the field of smart development were given to municipal representatives to support further collaboration opportunities.

Municipal Response to COVID-19: Crisis Management

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On 28th of April a virtual workshop on Crisis Management amid Covid-19 was held as part of the Connective Cities Series on Municipal Response to COVID-19. The event focused on the importance of multi-sectoral cooperation and fast communication strategies in unpredictable circumstances.

Approximately 15 participants from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine took part in the workshop.

The event focused on

  • Presenting crisis communication strategies/approaches
  • Introducing community-based disaster risk reduction methodology
  • Providing recommendations about possible next steps

After the event all attendees were given certificates of completion of the workshop.

Program

This virtual event was opened by welcoming remarks made by Dr. Piotr Żuber. Dr. Żuber provided background information of the workshop and briefly overviewed the agenda. Following the introduction, Mr. Edmunds Akitis, International Consultant, advanced into leading the core sessions.

The workshop revolved around the following three main topics:

  • Crisis Communication
  • Building back better in the pandemic period / recovery
  • Community based disaster risk management

Each segment was followed by a session of questions and answers, allowing participants to grasp the content more thoroughly. Attendees were also given floor to present practices and challenges of crisis management from their respective municipalities.

Presentations

  1. General Presentation of Crisis Management – Mr. Edmunds Akitis, International Consultant
  2. Evaluation of good municipal practices in the pandemic period – Mr. Edmunds Akitis, International Consultant
  3. Methodology of community-based disaster risk management planning – Mr. Edmunds Akitis, International Consultant

Results

During this online workshop representatives from multitudes of municipalities exchanged their experiences and insights of crisis and its communication in their communities. Moreover, they were introduced to some successful practices as well as generally acclaimed structures of communication approaches. Identification of fake news and establishment of early warning systems were some of the highlighted topics discussed during the event.

Multidimensional: The COVID-19 urban restoration programme “Lviv tomorrow”

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Ukraine, like most countries around the world, is strongly affected by Corona since March 2020. Individual cities experience little government support and are largely left to their own devices to combat and deal with COVID-19. Despite this challenge and only limited financial resources within the city budget, the city of Lviv managed to take quick and effective action.

The city, which is in northwestern Ukraine and has a population of about 750,000, established the “Lviv tomorrow” program to mitigate the negative consequences of COVID-19 and create the preconditions for improving the social, economic and cultural situation in the city. The program consists of 80 different projects, of which more than 50 already have been implemented.

An important pillar of the program is safety and health. The city of Lviv doubled the number of hospital beds available and set up its own COVID-19 testing laboratory. This allowed the number of COVID-19 tests to increase from 200-400 to over 3000 per day, speeding up the tracking of infected individuals and thus simplifying pandemic response.

The city also established new digital solutions that make it easier for the population to stay at and work from home. For example, a portal was created where the population can pay digitally for city services.

Especially the cultural sector was hit hard by the restrictions necessary to combat the pandemic. The city of Lviv is countering this by promoting open-air events and smaller cultural events, for example on balconies. This way, not only jobs in the cultural industry can be preserved, but also part of the life quality in the city can remain. In the uncertain times of the pandemic, cultural events are also a important psychological support for the population.

Another component of the “Lviv tomorrow” program is economic development. One project, for example, supports local food producers. In cooperation with supermarkets, food produced in Lviv is promoted and labeled with “made in Lviv” stickers.

With its extensive “Lviv tomorrow” program, the city of Lviv is taking action on many different levels to combat the pandemic and its effects. Not only the immediate aspects of the pandemic, such as the number of hospital beds, but also other areas of coexistence, such as cultural life, are included. Thus, not only acutely fighting the spread of Corona, but also creating a long-term perspective for the post COVID-19 city.

Contact:

Mr. Oleksandr Kobzarev
Director of the City Institute. Center of strategic planning in Lviv, Ukraine
o.kobzarev@city-institute.org

More Information:

LVIV TOMORROW. RESTORATION PROGRAM [pdf 11 pp.]

Interaktive Präsentation über Lviv (Only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform)

Municipal Response to COVID-19 in the Area of Governance

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Approximately 50 participants from Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Czech Republic, Estonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Argentina, Bolivia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Albania and Germany (16 countries) participated in the virtual event of the knowledge-exchange series on Municipal Response to COVID-19 in the area of governance.

The event focused on exploring the role of e-governance in combating COVID-19. It reviewed how municipalities manage to ensure the supply of essential municipal services with the help of efficient e-governance systems. During the event various topics were discussed, such as:

  • Crisis management experiences and existing challenges
  • Exploration of how we can enhance or scale-up strategies to meet current crisis-induced demands.

The web-seminar explored the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on municipal plans/strategies and municipal services, the actions and communication strategies deployed in response, and the cooperation of municipalities with national governments as well as international organizations.  

Program

 In this virtual event, Dr. Giorgi Khishtovani presented the methodology and results of the research on COVID-19 governance responses within the Connective Cities network. Thereafter, two good practices were shared from Tartu (Estonia) and La Paz (Bolivia). The moderated panel discussion covered the topics of e-governance and the effectiveness of ICT solutions at municipal levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were then encouraged to continue with the exchange on the virtual platform Connective Cities where other resources were shared in addition to the session outputs.

Presentations of good practices

Municipal Business and Governance Response to COVID-19: Tartu Case
Raimond Tamm, Deputy Mayor of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.

Public Services and I-Government in COVID-19 Era
Roberto Zambrana Flores, La Paz, Bolivia.

Results

During this online exchange representatives from multitudes of municipalities exchanged their experiences and insights in the fields of municipal response in health, business, and governance. This virtual exchange brought together city leaders and field experts in health, business, and governance to discuss prevalent trends, opportunities, and challenges emerging, along with the development and reinvention of municipal responses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.