COVID-19 - Connective Cities

Cities for Global Health

Posted on April 2, 2020 by erik

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/

Gesundheitlicher Bevölkerungsschutz bei biologischen Gefahrenlagen auf kommunaler Ebene

Posted on März 27, 2020Juni 13, 2025 by erik

Welche Maßnahmen sind nötig, um Bürger vor Infektionskrankheiten und Epidemien nachhaltig zu schützen? Wie ist das Vorgehen in deutschen Kommunen und anderen Städten und Regionen der Welt organisiert? Und wie können lokale Gesundheitssysteme gestärkt werden? Diese Fragen standen im Mittelpunkt der Dialogveranstaltung „Gesundheitlicher Bevölkerungsschutz bei biologischen Gefahrenlagen auf kommunaler Ebene“.

In Kooperation mit dem Gesundheitsamt Frankfurt hatte die internationale Städteplattform Connective Cities deutsche und internationale Akteure aus Brasilien, Jordanien und Liberia zum Erfahrungsaustausch und zur Präsentation guter Praktiken vom 25. bis 27. November 2015 nach Frankfurt eingeladen. Zu den Teilnehmern zählten unter anderem Mediziner, Mitarbeiter aus Kommunen, Landesregierungen und Ministerien sowie Experten aus dem Bereich Infektionsschutz und Krisenmanagement.

Primäres Ziel der Veranstaltung war es, umsetzungsorientierte Präventionsansätze und kollektive Projektideen zur Bekämpfung und Abwehr biologischer Gefahren zu erarbeiten.

Vieles davon ist heute aktueller denn je.

Weitere Informationen und Impressionen zur Veranstaltung in der Kurzdokumentation, im ausführlichen Tagungsbericht und im Video (auf YouTube).

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

Posted on März 25, 2020 by erik

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?

Posted on März 24, 2020 by erik

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.

The Covid-19 pandemic from an urban planning perspective

Posted on März 22, 2020 by erik

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.