Tag: Import-COVID-11-06-2025 EN

Fangcang Shelter Hospitals in Wuhan, China

Posted on by erik

Like many other cities, the city of Wuhan, China, often referred to as the epicenter of the pandemic, faced severe challenges when being confronted with the outbreak of the virus at the end of 2019 and early 2020. A lack of medical supplies, doctors and nurses, and available beds made it impossible to contain the pandemic in its early stages by the means of traditional hospitals. To isolate COVID-19 cases from the rest of the population quickly and on a large scale, the city of Wuhan developed a novel concept in public health: Fangcang Shelter Hospitals.

During the outbreak of the pandemic in Wuhan, public facilities such as gymnasiums or stadiums were rapidly transformed into health facilities. Within ten days, these new medical shelter hospitals provided the basic functions of isolation, primary health care, disease surveillance and rapid referral, as well as food and shelter. Especially mild and moderate COVID-19 cases were treated and isolated quickly in these shelter hospitals, while severe cases were transported to traditional hospitals. This triage led to an enormous relief of the traditional hospitals and enabled the treatment and isolation of large numbers of patients.

Further, within the new health facilities, medical teams of different disciplines constantly generated new knowledge about the diagnostic and treatment options for COVID-19. These were permanently updated with the help of multidisciplinary collaborations and helped to inform other practitioners in the health sector on the city, national and international level. Through an innovative cloud-based medical service solution, hospitals were further able to provide online health advice.

A total of 16 such shelter hospitals enabled the isolation of thousands of patients within a very short time during the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. They provided medical treatment and care and fulfilled an important function to relieve the burden on traditional hospitals and to efficiently avoid the spread of the disease. For the future post-epidemic era, psychological counselling of medical staff now plays an equally important role as follow-up research, evaluation and adjustment of processes in the shelter hospitals, so that Wuhan will be even better prepared for challenges to its health system in the future.

Further Information

How do we challenge the Covid-19? – Jun Wang [pdf 2,24 mb]

Event Recording in English and Chinese (Presentation on Wuhan starts min. 6): https://conference.meet-modular.com/playback/presentation/2.0/playback.html?meetingId=ffacab8b40bcf33de7da48374038a61adb2d30df-1606200349228

Contact

Dr. Wang Jun,
Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan,
Huabei Province, P.R. of China
brendawj2006@163.com

Pandemic response in Aracaju, Brazil

Posted on by erik

Brazil is one of the countries most affected by the pandemic worldwide. Aracaju, the capital of the state of Sergipe in north-eastern Brazil, responded quickly and comprehensively to Covid-19.

In March 2020, a response plan was developed, and a crisis team was established. This meant that even before the first cases appeared in the region, people with symptoms could be isolated, tested and followed up. Random testing of citizens, for example, in public places, markets and train stations, was also very successful. Through this strategy, around 3,600 PCR tests and 1,200 rapid tests were conducted weekly in all 44 neighbourhoods of Aracaju. Testing allowed a-symptomatic cases to be detected and isolated. In addition, the protection of at-risk groups was vital for the Brazilian city. Therefore, they were tested especially frequently and at home. The prevention measures also included registering travellers at the airport.

In March 2020, the Aracaju city government set up eight medical centres, of which around 130,000 patients were cared for by October 2020. Furthermore, hospitals were equipped with respirators and beds were increased. The field hospital opened in May 2020 treated more than 450 patients. Thanks to these measures, the city’s health system was relieved.

Crisis communication was another key component in the strategic management of the pandemic in Aracaju. The citizens were informed about infection numbers in a daily briefing. Another concern of the city was to support the citizens emotionally. Therefore, Aracaju offered psychological counselling by telephone, an offer that was taken up more than 4000 times. Thanks to these comprehensive measures, Aracaju has recorded one of the lowest mortality rates in Brazil concerning Covid-19.

Further Information

Gestão Estratégica e medidas inovadoras no enfrentamento à pandemia em Aracaju/SE  –  Präsentation in Portugiesisch [PDF, 1,96 mb]

Event Recording in German, Spanish, and Portugiese (Presentation on Aracaju starts min. 73): Strategisches management zur Bekämpfung der Pandemie in Aracaju (Only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform)

Contact

Frau Waneskade Souza Barboza,
Representative of the National Front of Mayors (FNP)
Secretary of Health of Aracaju Prefeitura Municipal de Aracaju, Aracaju, Brazil
waneska.barboza@aracaju.se.gov.br

Municipal Response to COVID-19 in Business Sector

Posted on by erik

On 27th of May virtual workshop on Municipal Response to COVID-19 in Business Sector took place as part of the ongoing Event series “Municipal Response to COVID-19”.  It is commissioned by the GIZ project “Connective Cities – The Community of Practice for Sustainable Urban Development”.

The Workshop was dedicated to exploring municipal initiatives and measures taken to address economic and business sector challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Its aim was to review how municipalities have managed to support vulnerable businesses during this period. Moreover, the web-seminar explored innovative private-sector support schemes responding to COVID-19, outlined the actions and strategies deployed by cities to communicate with the private sector, and highlighted the importance of business recovery plans.

Approximately 40 participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Georgia, Germany, Peru and South Africa took part in 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. Irakli Samkharadze, Regional Coordinator, Connective Cities, GIZ, thanked all attendees for their participation and briefly introduced Connective Cities project and its objectives.

Core part of the workshop was structured according to themes and went as follows:

  1. Presentation of the best practices in terms of innovative business approaches and business recovery plans in response to the COVID-19 crisis among Connective Cities network members.
  2. Detailed cases of municipal responses to COVID-19 in the business sector from Lima (Peru) presented by Ms. Patricia Talavera, Head of Economic Development Department at Lima
  3. Cases of Cape Town (South Africa) presented by Mr. Lance Greyling, City of Cape Town’s Director for Enterprise and Investment.
  4. Q&A session following themes of presentations, during which participants actively discussed their experiences and aspects that could be useful from introduced cases.
  5. Interactive discussion panel focusing on the effectiveness of business recovery plans at municipal level during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants reviewed the role of business recovery plans at the local level and how these can ensure smoother and faster recovery in the post-pandemic era. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Giorgi Khishtovani, and panel participants were Dr. Piotr Zuber, Senior Lecturer at University of Warsaw (Poland), and Mr. Vakhtang Lomjaria, Head of Municipal Department of Economic Development, Tbilisi (Georgia).

Presentations

The main measures for Economic Reactivation
Ms. Patricia Talavera, Head of Economic Development Department, Lima, Peru

Enterprise & Investment, Support for SMME’s during COVID -19
Mr. Lance Greyling, City of Cape Town’s Director for Enterprise and Investment, Cape Town, South Africa

Methodology and Results of the Research on Covid-19 Responses
Mr. Giorgi Khishtovani, Research Director, PMCG

Results

During this online workshop representatives from multitudes of municipalities exchanged their experiences and insights on business recovery possibilities.

Participants were introduced to various already implemented recovery plans or activities from around the world. They were also given insight into some of future business recuperation possibilities and trends from around the world.  One such example, in particular plan for business support in Tbilisi, Georgia was delivered by the governmental body representative himself

Waste Management in Vushtrri, Kosovo

Posted on by erik

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

Posted on by erik

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

Posted on by erik

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

Posted on by erik

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

Posted on by erik

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

Posted on by erik

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

Posted on by erik

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.