Preparing and empowering cities in the face of epidmics 19-

Preparing and Empowering Cities in the face of
Pandemics- Covid 19.
*Jit Kumar Gupta
Introduction
Cities remain most valuable among human settlements, for the contribution
they make to the economic development, generation of employment, promoting
innovations and providing state of art infrastructure and facilities. As place for
concentration of activities and human beings, cities not only create supportive
environment for businesses to thrive but also enable residents to have gainful
employment. Even during period of crisis, cities are known for their capacity to
support communities, local trade & commerce and national economy. Cities
drive economic wealth, promote competitiveness, invest in local economies
ensure health, safety, and welfare of the people in their communities, and
maintain infrastructure, which are known to be the prime mover of economic
development.
Studies made by UNO, indicate that cities globally housed 4.2 billion people, or
55 percent of the world's population in 2018. By 2050, the urban population is
expected to reach 6.5 billion. Cities remain critical because they merely occupy
3 per cent of the planer earth's land, but account for 60–80 per cent of energy
consumption and responsible for 75 per cent of carbon emissions. Accordingly,
cities have emerged as the major cause for and solution to climate change.
Looking at the way cities are growing and operating, sustainable
development cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way
cities are being built and urban spaces are being managed.
Considering the critical role and importance of cities; out of 17 goals mandated
by UNO to make this planet livable, SDG 11 is exclusively dedicated to
improving cities and making them more sustainable. This goal looks at the
options and opportunities to make cities as entities; creating optimum level of
career and business opportunities, promoting safe and affordable housing;
building resilient societies and economies; making investment to create safe,
cost-effective, eco-friendly, affordable public transport; creating appropriate
levels of green public spaces, and improving urban planning.
Years 2020& 2021, will be known in the urban history, as the most challenging
and difficult years, which transformed cities dramatically in their structure,
operations and communication, impacting adversely human health, economy,
productivity, mobility, trade & commerce, quality of life etc. Holding enormous
capacity to face disasters, both manmade and natural even in troubled times,
cities of today are facing twin challenges of healthcare, precipitated by the
COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis that coronavirus has cast on
people and communities. Synergizing and working in collaboration, cities need
to create productive partnership with all levels of governance, local
communities and institutions to overcome the ongoing crisis caused by Covid

19, to recover/ rebuild and make cities stronger. For responding effectively to
COVID-19, cities need to evolve, devolve and implement strategies to support
housing homeless individuals, eliminating all possibilities of utility shutoffs and
transforming daily government operations.
Considering the current challenges faced due to ongoing pandemic, cities
must evolve innovative strategies and use state of art technologies to increase
their effectiveness/governance, improve operational efficiency, ensure
uninterrupted delivery of services; making urban planning, development and
management people centric; formulate supportive policies and evolve rational
development programs; bringing transparency; reaching people and involving
communities to effectively counter the ill effects of Covid 19.
Issues and Options
Cities have been and are going to be the future of all nations, because of
the high proportion of national population they will be holding; large
employment they will be generating; major contribution they will be making
to the economy; quality infrastructure they will be providing/ supporting and
innovations/ state of art technologies they will be introducing. However,
despite distinct advantages cities hold, they have also emerged as major
areas of natural and manmade disasters. History has shown that cities
remain an ideal breeding ground for disasters to come and go, the way city
develop and operate. With dichotomy and contradictions characterizing
their operations, cities remain challenged by periodic occurring of disasters.
However, despite suffering huge losses in terms of human life & liberty,
economy, employment, trade and commerce social fabric etc., each time
cities have emerged stronger and stronger after facing the challenges. In
order to empower cities and build capacity to face these natural and
manmade disasters, cities need to be planned and designed innovatively;
create affordable shelter for housing all the urban residents; ensure
uninterrupted provision of basic and essential infrastructure/ services/
amenities; create opportunities of gainful employment ; taking care of the
mental health of both workers/residents; making optimum use of
technology; generating adequate resources for funding different people
centric programs; supporting urban poor; providing appropriate healthcare
facilities; supporting great leadership etc.
Looking at the entire urban context, attempt has been made to define
various issues and options, which cities must focus on and exercise to make
them safe, resilient and inclusive to counter the adverse conditions created
by the repeated pandemics. Few of the options which cities need to exercise
have been detailed below;
Urban Planning
 For empowering the cities to face natural and manmade disasters, cities
must be planned, designed, constructed and managed for flexibility. The
flexibility should be built, in terms of creating spaces, opportunities and

accommodations to house all essentials for residents and communities to
counter the disasters. Cities need to be empowered so that during the
period of crisis, they must be able to create space for housing homeless or
who are rendered homeless; create healthcare facilities; provide food on
continued basis; generate alternate opportunities of livelihood and sharing
all basic amenities and facilities essential for human living. This would
require all healthcare facilities, educational buildings, public /community
buildings etc. to be planned and designed differently, in order to enable
them to reinvent/ reshape so as to cater to all exigencies created by
disasters
 For enabling cites to effectively combat the pandemics, cities must be de-
centralized and divided into self-contained neighborhoods, duly planned
and supported with basic facilities and infrastructures related to healthcare,
education, shopping, community facilities etc. These neighborhoods should
be planned and developed on pedestrian/human scale, based on
walkability. Norms for these amenities/facilities must be reviewed, revised
and redefined from time to time, keeping in view the changing needs of the
community. Healthcare should invariably remain the area of focus in order
to effectively counter the adverse impact of pandemics
 Cities, as areas of large concentration of population/ activities, remain
hotbeds of natural disasters The pandemic has shown the challenge
existing in our urban spaces, as 90% cases are reported in urban
areas. COVID-19 pandemic can be drastically slowed down by reducing
exposure to those living in crowded areas. In order to save existing cities
from current and impending natural and health related disasters, it will be
vital to address the issues facing the core/congested areas. Efforts must be
made to decongest the core areas of the city for empowering them to
remain healthy. However, considering the concentration of population and
whole sale/business activities located in these areas, it becomes difficult to
decongest them for the reason, these areas, developed historically, attract
lot of business and also generate lot of traffic engaged in ferrying goods
to/from the areas. Further due to large concentration of buildings in these
areas, it becomes difficult to undertake their demolitions on large scale.
Accordingly, for decongestion, it will be vital to explore options like,
minimizing the entry of mechanical and fossil fuel-based vehicles with
efforts made to promote pedestrianization in the area. Efforts should also to
be made to shift the wholesale trade from the core to the areas identified in
the master plan and use the area vacated by the wholesale trade for
creating open spaces, which remains at premium in all the core areas. In
addition, with the restricted entry of goods/ vehicles, it will be appropriate to
convert area under roads/parking into pavements, to be exclusively used
for pedestrians. With large scale landscaping of the areas under pavement,
core areas will have reduced congestion, reduced vehicles, reduced
noise/pollution and more openness. This will help in making cities healthier
and open. Similar strategy needs to be adopted for decongesting all the
walled cities existing in the country, which will help in making them not only

healthy but also would ensure the safety of the residents from the adverse
impact of the pandemics.
 Urban agriculture must be made integral part of the neighborhood planning
so that community does not suffer from the unforeseen lock-outs.
Neighborhoods must evolve an institutional mechanism, based on co-
operative approach, so as to promote sharing and equitable distribution of
day- to -day needs among local communities in the hour of crisis.
 Adequate opportunities must be created and planned at the neighborhood
level for the small enterprises and women- led business, to avoid undue
hardship caused to them in the hour of crisis. Adequate employment
opportunities and work centers must be created at the local level to
minimize concentration of people and minimize travel to different
destinations besides permitting people to work from home.
 Considering the ongoing and impending pandemics, norms and standards
for providing healthcare facilities must be reviewed, revised and redefined
with focus on preventive healthcare rather than promoting curative
approach. Technology must be leveraged to create a city level network of
healthcare facilities, for making accessible such facilities easy and safer, to
all including; consultation, prescribing medicine, sourcing medicine,
monitoring healthcare, creating online medical history of the residents etc.
This will not only help in minimizing the need of visiting healthcare
institutions, reducing the number of healthcare institutions, reducing
mobility, improving environment and promoting efficiency but also making
available best of the medical consultation at the most affordable cost within
the minimum timeframe. This will also reduce/eliminate the cost of creating
large infrastructures for the out-patient sections of hospitals.
Sustainability
 Sustainability and wellness have high degree of positive connectivity. Cities
are increasingly prioritizing environmental protections, climate
preparedness, and greenhouse gas emission reductions to make them
healthy and livable. Cities have also recognized the significant linkages
between environmental health and the physical, mental, and economic
health of communities. Research has shown that people with long-term
exposure to air pollution are more likely to die from COVID-19. To help
mitigate these negative outcomes, cities must implement renewable energy
production, promote sustainable development, preserve natural resources,
promote bio-diversity, encourage green buildings and prepare for extreme
and climate-related events. In making cities more eco-friendly,they must
minimize the production of waste. Cities must plan and try to cut half the
amount of waste that is being shipping to landfills by 2040 through the,
conversion of waste and bio-solids to compost on a massive scale.
Creating a Waste Task force, duly supported by plans to eliminate plastic
bags will be vital to prevent harmful pollutants from entering the soil. Cities
have to innovate to convert waste to wealth and making optimum use of
waste generated. Cities need to be planned and operated on the analogy

of circular economy so as to eliminate all waste. Plastic, which is being
considered the largest pollutant globally, is being looked at as the greatest
resource considering its use in making roads, creating bricks for making
buildings etc.
 Sustainability will have to be considered in the various contexts. It will be
impossible to achieve sustainability without active support and involvement
of communities and stakeholders. Achieving sustainability will require a
realistic roadmap in the shape of Sustainability Plan to be prepared along
with defining the approach to achieve the goals and objectives.
Implementing Sustainability Plan with specific, measurable goals through
a dedicated fund for reducing carbon emissions will help in making
communities better, fairer, safer to live. Public safety initiatives focusing on
strengthening relations with the community, through education and
outreach, will be most important factors to determine the overall quality of
life for a community.
 Emergency, preparedness, sustainability, health, and economy are often
seen as separate, stand-alone issues. However, they remain inter-
connected and inter-dependent. Their mutual exclusion is considered as
counter-productive for both cities and governments. Cities taking a holistic
approach to addressing these issues, will be better placed to engage with
any unforeseen calamity, and will also ensure higher and better returns on
investment made to counter adverse conditions. Empowering cities to
design creative, equitable programs, that address multiple challenges and
drive local economies/ communities for preparing them for future
calamities, will remain crucial and valuable for any city to effectively combat
any future pandemics.
Housing
 Providing affordable housing to all residents, irrespective of caste, creed,
religion, age, sex, economic strata etc., remains vital and crucial to counter
effectively the negative forces generated by the pandemics. In all cases it
has been observed, homeless and people living in slums and crowded
areas, are the one who are major sufferers during the outbreak of
pandemics. Thousands of people, living in metropolitan centers, having no
assured accommodation, were the one who were first to migrate from these
urban centers, suffer enormously and emerged as the major causality
/cause of spread of the covid 19, in India. Access to quality housing remains
key to residents’ ability to live as fully empowered members of the local
community. The pandemic has exacerbated the housing crisis affecting the
most vulnerable populations, especially for homeless and low-income
residents. To rebuild strong settlements, cities will have to work and involve
residents, businesses and state as partners
 Cities remain the hot beds of pandemics with majority of cases occurring
in slums. People who live in slums are known to have limited/no access
to improved water supply , access to improved sanitation, sufficient living
area, and durable housing Looking globally, number of slum dwellers

reached more than 1 billion in 2018, or 24 per cent of the urban
population. In India, every sixth urbanite lived in slums (Census 2011). For
making urban settlements safe against Carona19, cities must be rationally
planned and developed not only to create adequate housing stock but also
make it available to all its residents including poorest of the poor to have a
safe living environment, duly supported by basic infrastructure /amenities/
services etc. Accordingly, cities must ensure access to adequate, safe and
affordable housing and basic services by upgrading slums. This should
involve not only reduction of proportion of urban population living
in slums /informal settlements but also reduction in their absolute
numbers.
 To fight pandemic and to minimize its impact on people and communities,
it will be vital to prioritize affordable housing, expanding resources and
services for homeless individuals; banning evictions of tenants in need of
assistance; ensuring every resident has access to safe, stable and
affordable housing, especially for the most vulnerable and at-risk
populations. Creating large stock of rental housing on continued basis;
creating numerous options for sourcing housing and partnering with
developers to construct affordable housing complex, duly supported with
various amenities, should remain the focus of all development/parastatal
agencies, operating at local/state level. With housing instability as the major
contributor to coronavirus rates, large number of renters unable to afford a
home, would require city support on continued basis. Cities must urgently
consider putting a ban on evicting tenants in need of assistance and should
offer rent deferment payment plans to tenants, who are facing financial
hardships
 For checking spread of Covid 19, it will be critical to create/provide a safe
place and potential work opportunities for homeless/vulnerable people and
to ensure they have access to the resources they need. Cities need to
partner with developer for constructing affordable senior housing complex
with various amenities. Installing toilets around encampment centers,
converting/ transforming existing public buildings into homeless shelters
for those experiencing homelessness and to maintain social distancing and
eliminate overcrowding, will be vital to check the spread of Covid
19.Involving NGOs, CBOs, Charitable, Cultural, Professional and Religious
organizations existing at local level in making provision for housing the
homelessness during the current crisis will be vital to minimizing the spread
and effectively counter the virus.
Green Built Environment
 For overcoming Covid 19 and effectively countering pandemics in future,
cities must promote planned development and green/sustainable built
environment. According to World Energy Council Report, 2016, ‘Buildings
consume over 45% global energy, 30% of total raw materials extracted on
this planet, 25% timber harvested, 16% fresh water withdrawal, 35% of
world’s CO2 emission, 40% municipal solid waste and 50% ozone depleting

CFC besides promoting ‘sick building syndrome’. Considering lifecycle cost
and energy, only !0% cost of a building & 17% energy goes into making of
a building, whereas remaining 90% cost/ 83% energy is used in their
operation and maintenance, involving heating, cooling, lighting, ventilating,
repairing and making limited additions and alterations.
 Buildings are known to be large consumer of energy and resources besides
generators of large waste. Designing energy efficient and resource efficient
buildings becomes all the more important, for the obvious and simple
reason that major quantum of buildings are yet to be constructed. As per
estimates made globally for the year 2030 with regard to the requirement of
built environment, only 40% of buildings have been estimated to be
constructed so far, whereas 60% of the buildings are yet to be constructed.
Further as per studies carried out by McKenzie Global Research Institute,
India needs addition of 700- 900 million sqm of built space on annual basis
in urban settlements, to meet the demand of housing, working, trade and
commerce, Industries, leisure, healthcare, education etc., of people
migrating to the cities and the natural growth of population. Buildings have
been acknowledged for their role, importance and potential for saving this
planet by offering greatest opportunity to minimize energy consumption and
resources, simply by changing the manner in which buildings are visualized,
planned, constructed , managed and operated.
 Looking at the entire gamut of built environment, Green Buildings emerge
as the best option to make buildings sustainable and least consumers of
energy and resources. Green Buildings have been recognized globally by
nations for minimizing use of water, optimizing energy efficiency,
conserving natural resources, generating minimum waste and providing
healthier space/indoor quality for occupants as compared to conventional
buildings. Green Buildings also save energy up to 50%; water consumption
by 40% and reduce carbon emission by 35%. Green buildings are also
known to scale down Co2 generation by 8000-12000 tons and 3 MW of
connected electric load per million Sqft of built space created besides
reducing waste by 70% . Green buildings not only reduce consumption of
non-renewable resources but also fetch better returns from buildings. Such
buildings provide financial, environmental and social benefits besides
creating a win-win situation for both owners, occupants and users through
healthier indoor air quality, lesser sickness and improved productivity.
 Green built environment is known and recognized for its capacity and value
to fight the pandemics more effectively and efficiently. In order to make
cities/living spaces healthy, cities must allocate adequate financial
resources and provide appropriate technical assistance to all the
stakeholders to guide and assist them to construct and retrofit the existing
buildings to make them sustainable, resilient and resource/ energy efficient,
using local materials. Planning, designing, constructing and maintaining
green buildings should be made mandatory in all category of buildings.
Singapore has already prepared a master plan for the island, for making all
the existing buildings to be green within next 10-15 years, in addition to

making all new buildings to be green. Such an agenda should also be put
in operation by all the urban centers in the country. Cities must also rope in
and engage reputed agencies like Indian Green Building Council, for aiding,
advising, assisting, managing and guiding them as how to usher a culture
of green buildings in the urban areas. Awareness programs must be
launched for the children by involving educational institutions to promote
green concepts, green living and green buildings. Green and healthy
building should also be made integral part of architectural/engineering
teaching and learning by making them part of study curricula/ syllabi.
Infrastructures
 Infrastructure remains the bedrock on which superstructure of all urban
settlements is made to stand. Infrastructure is also considered most crucial
component of any city to operate effectively and efficiently and provide basic
and day-to-day needs besides ensuring quality of life for all its inhabitants.
Cities are primarily responsible for providing qualitative/quantitative
infrastructure, maintaining them effectively & efficiently and improving
available infrastructure on continued basis, which are critical to resident’s
safety and public health. Accordingly, making investments in infrastructure
and public works in partnership with stakeholders, remain vital for all cities
to mitigate spread of the virus, increase resiliency, and ensure long-term
recovery.
 Considering the critical role and importance of quality water in the human
habitation, there is an urgent need to upgrade water related infrastructure
to increase its operational efficiency to make cities more resilient to meet
effectively the challenges of natural disasters in future. Cities accordingly,
must formulate and put in place emergency plans to provide high-quality
drinking water to residents. Cities should never stop water service even in
the face of non-payment and should formulate policies to waive off late fees
for residents for delayed payment of water charges. Investing in wastewater
treatment facilities which not only preserve treated wastewater, effectively
and efficiently, but also remain environment friendly to the community, will
be vital for improving resilience to flood management infrastructure and
stormwater management. Constructing Water Pollution Control Plant, will
allow more effective and efficient water management and treatment for
many years.
 Small businesses remain most valuable and productive asset of any city
and accordingly form cornerstone of inclusive growth of cities. Considering
large workforce deployed in the infrastructure sector for providing water,
managing sewer/garbage services, maintaining/repairing roads, managing
infrastructure and public works services; protecting, supporting and
enabling the small enterprises and people deployed in these
businesses/services, should be given priority to make them operationally
efficient and productive during the period of crisis. Cities must continue to
address existing critical gaps in services by upgrading aging infrastructure
and ensuring equitable access to public services. Increasing urban mobility

for the bottom section of social/economic pyramid, will help in improving the
accessibility of town for economically challenged section.
 Protecting the safety and health of the public, to respond effectively to the
pandemic, and expanding hygiene services by providing portable toilets
and hand washing stations for the homeless population, will be vital to check
uncontrolled march of Carona virus. Decentralization of infrastructures at
the local level and making neighborhoods self-sustaining and self-sufficient
in day-to-day infrastructure, shall be critical for any city to remain healthy
and more productive.
 Creating quality education infrastructure at local level will be vital because
strong schools are known for producing thriving communities, creating jobs,
strengthening tax base, making safer neighborhoods, and enhanced
property values.
Financing
 All development activities are known to be large consumers of resources,
both financial and technical. Having a strong fiscal foundation, remains vital
for cities to provide needed and expected services. On-set of pandemics,
has drastically cut down adequate flow of resources to the local/state level
agencies. All these agencies are heading towards and facing fiscal crisis.
Fiscal challenges facing cities, are adversely impacting their capacity, ability
and capability to finance the capital improvement, infrastructure
maintenance and other critical public works services. Many cities are known
to scale down the services at a time when the community needs them most,
layoff and furlough employees, who comprise a large share of middle class,
and pull back on capital projects, further impacting local employment,
business contracts and overall investment in the economy Responding to
COVID-19, despite limitation of available resources, cities are trying to
support/help residents and businesses from additional financial burden by
deferment of property tax, business license fee suspensions etc.
 Cities need to be fiscally responsible by engaging with the public on
budgetary practices, managing their relationships with state/local
governments for rebuilding their reserves. Considering the fact that cities
are re-defining their focus and allocating all available resources to fight the
pandemic, they need to expand additional resources to support people
involved in the healthcare sector, fire services and infrastructures besides
protecting and supporting the community. Adopting resilience lens will help
and enables cities, to analyze all budgetary decisions across departments
and determine how connections can be made to enhance local
preparedness, improve resident health, and get communities back to work.
Safety
 Safety remains most critical in urban context because safe cities are known
to usher prosperity, make businesses flourish and make communities and
people happy, healthy and more productive. Considering the present
context, managing climate change and global warming should remain top

priorities for the communities to remain safe against natural and manmade
disasters. Reducing neighborhood crime and strengthening relationships
between residents, communities and police will be critical to promote safety.
Safety in neighborhoods/cities can be brought in by lifting and empowering
people and communities. Any attempt to lock people in the name of safety
shall always remain counterproductive and will lead to making areas highly
unsafe. Making any community and neighborhood safe should invariably
involve communities as partners. Cities must invest in developing an
effective and efficient community response program, involving trained and
trusted community members, for immediate use in the hour of crime/crisis,
for restoring peace, ensuring calm, support families/ survivors, and stop
situations from escalating into further acts of violence. Faced with growing
crime cities also need to adopt tough-on-crime approach. Before evolving
any response system, study needs to be made of the factors which remain
largely responsible for making areas unsafe and also identify communities
and groups which are at greater risk.
 Studies made globally have revealed that Census operations are highly
critical for identifying/counting the households, which are prone to higher
order of risk like children below the age of 5 years; identifying racial and
ethnic minorities and low-income households. An accurate census count
has been considered pre-requisite and most valuable for promoting safety
of all urban residents. Census are considered of enormous value for
municipalities to ensure that funding various projects reflect accurately the
needs and composition of the targeted groups. Complete Census count also
helps in achieving a full and accurate count of residents needing assistance;
ensures accurate allocation of resources for emergency
preparedness/disaster relief; linking to health programs/ food banks.;
providing groceries to vulnerable communities in response to COVID-19,
and evolving resilient planning etc.
Technology LEAGUE OF .AL LEAGUE OF CI
 Technology has emerged as the greatest supporter/saviour in this period of
crisis caused by pandemic, for both governments, parastatal agencies and
communities. Technology is being increasingly used to replace human led
activities, minimizing the need of human contacts, increasing accessibility
and ensuring the efficient delivery of services. Technology is also being
used on large scale, to communicate and sharing information and resources
with communities both at local and global level. Technology is being
increasingly leveraged to promote work from home and making businesses
contactless. Healthcare sector has been major beneficiary of technological
innovations. Accordingly, it is important that role and importance of
technology is fully understood, appreciated and made use of in this period
of pandemic. Technology holds great potential in minimizing and countering
the adverse effects of natural and manmade disasters.
 Cities are increasingly understanding, appreciating, adopting and using
technology to make governance processes more transparent; identifying

events, programs and services that largely impact residents, and identify
potential opportunities to improve their performance and connectivity with
communities and stakeholders at large. Cities are using technology, as a
platform, to communicate with people and communities, about policies and
issues, which remain important to them. Number of cities are trying to
graduate to 5-G fiber network to increase internet speed and Wi-Fi services
at local level, for attracting new businesses and utilizing social media
platforms, to improve the quality of life for residents.
 Technology can be effectively leveraged for organizing events/competitions
for encouraging residents to visit various attractions in cities and share their
visits on social media for getting recognition. This will not only help in
engaging with the public/ local communities, but will also go a long way in
marketing the city, both locally and globally. In addition, it will educate
residents and others, about the city’s historical and aesthetical sites/value.
 Cities need to make optimum use of social media to identify events,
programs and services that would connect them with majority of residents,
to better understand what people like and value about the city and to attract
community members by offering improved and popular opportunities for the
future. Smart cities are known for their capacity to combat effectively the
pandemic by using sensors; collecting data by deploying drones to
determine whether physical-distancing rules are being followed ; enforcing
physical-distancing rules by alerting people to move away from each other,
if they are congregating. Technology is also being leveraged by cities/states
to provide details about the number of cases of covid 19 on day-to-day basis
and also communicating/sharing the availability of healthcare facilities at
various places and at various destinations.
 Cities need to increasingly partner with tech companies to use smart city
technologies to trace the contacts of people infected with the virus to inform
the community. Citiesneed to increasingly use social media to minimize the
at-risk population in the wake of COVID-19; uplifting the plight of the
homeless individuals; making residents stay-at-home and practice social
distancing through virtual interactions, to flatten the curve and to improve
the quality of life for residents.
 Technology is also facilitating cities in the healthcare sector, to provide
online healthcare services/treatment to patients. Imparting online
education, by using information technology, has been the mechanism used
by practically all the educational institutions to communicate with the
students. Large number of knowledge sharing platforms have been made
operational with the help of technology to conduct webinars/conferences
etc., for sharing and disseminating information/knowledge about issues of
public interest. Work from home for majority of employees has been made
possible by the extensive use of technology.
Leadership
 Local leadership remains critical for cities, in current health and economic
crisis, not only to recover from the economic recession but also to provide

residents and businesses, with the tools for strengthening economy and to
identify ways and means, that are more equitable, sustainable and forward-
thinking.
 Accelerating delivery of essential services, like public safety &health; directing
investments toward resilient infrastructure; building up reserves; instituting
better budgeting practices; acknowledging the disproportionate challenges
faced by minority and implementing targeted programs to support them, remain
the major issues to be addressed by the local leadership. Serving the needs of
the most vulnerable by local leadership, through various initiatives, will be vital
to overcome the ill effects of Covid 19.
 To be ready to respond to the growing needs of communities and for the long
road of recovery ahead, cities need a strong leadership /partnership with all
levels of government. For early recovering from the pandemic, it will be
imperative that cities get the support they need to build an even stronger cities,
to overcome the unforeseen future challenges.
 Strengthening local leadership will remain vital and critical for evolving rational
policies and innovative solutions; establishing and implementing a
realistic/achievable vision and lead during the most challenging moments.
Local leaders must have the capacity, capability, understanding, expertise and
vision to take cities forward.
 Cities need to rebuild and bring systems change, to start the journey towards
fast recovery, and to promote search for rational options to improve local
leaders’ ability to service and empower the residents. With economy getting
into deep trouble and unemployment rate growing fast, it is imperative that all
stakeholders must work in tandem/ come together for ushering an era of fast
recovery. Cities going alone and bearing the brunt of negative fiscal
consequences of the pandemic, are likely to put cities/communities in a critical
situation/ slow path of recovery.
 Cities enforcing stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of the virus should
increasingly work with communities to create virtual resource and recovery
centers to provide food and other support to residents. Sprucing up essential
services, like public safety and health, directing investments toward resilient
infrastructure and building up reserves, will be critical for cities to effectively
counter such pandemics in future.
 Local leaders need to demonstrate their commitment to fiscal balance and
operational excellence by adopting preventive maintenance policies to reduce
outsourcing and keeping jobs inhouse; to minimize future financial
commitments for making significant difference to the future liabilities for the
taxpayers,
Options for Business- Economic Development
 Entrepreneurs and small businesses struggle and face significant economic
downturns but, if supported, can also be at the heart of the fast recovery of
city economy. Options for recovery can range, from helping business
owners build a web presence and encouraging them to bid for local
contracts, connecting them to mentors and micro-lenders.

 Demonstrating continued commitment to small businesses and
entrepreneurs will help small businesses, to explore their inherent potential
of creating large number of new jobs. Developing small business
enterprise program for the city’s socially and economically disadvantaged
businesses, will remain most critical and vital for empowering these
ventures, in any period of economic or natural crisis.
 Launching initiatives to assist minority- and women-owned businesses,
including creating partnership to provide technical support, establishing a
debt and equity fund that will offer working capital, will be a pre-requisite to
bring such enterprises back to business. Making commitment to help secure
the future of these businesses and restoring the economic health of the
communities will be urgently needed. Launching of a rent payment
reimbursement program for the city’s Small Business/ COVID-19 Relief
Grants Program, for the small businesses adversely affected by the
pandemic, will be critical to generate employment and revive these
businesses. Supporting businesses applying for business loans will be
critical and vital to bring these businesses back on the rail.
Mental Health CITIES
 Considering growing concern of mental health for cities in the face of
Covid 19, expanding mental health resources and addressing emotional
and mental duress by developing mental health programs and putting in
place 24/7 mental health care at the community/city levels, will be critical
to fight pandemic and Covid 19. OF CITIES
 Considering youths as cities’ future, leaders must ensure support for
young children and families in need, for making them school ready and
providing youth with access to a high-quality education. Universities
need to increase enrollment for new students, taking both online/ in-
person classes.
Conclusions
 With majority of all cases recorded in cities, urban areas have been at
the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis. Accordingly, adopting sustainable
development goals mandated by UNO, to make cities safe, resilient,
inclusive and sustainable, should remain the guiding principle and
agenda for the growth, development and management of cities and
towns to make them better places to live and work. UN-Habitat’s new
report - Cities and Pandemics: Towards a more just, green and healthy
future – demonstrates how cities can reduce the impact of future
pandemics and become more equitable, healthy and environme nt-
friendly.
 Studies made globally have revealed that, existing patterns of
dichotomy, contradictions and inequality existing in cities,
characterized by the lack of access to basic services, poverty and
overcrowded living conditions, have been largely responsible and
destabilizing factors in increasing the scale and impact of COVID-19.

Accordingly, cities need to, critically and objectively, look at these
issues and evolve realistic and rational strategies, based on existing
ground realities and after due consultation with and involving local
communities, institutions, stakeholders, local/city leadership, NGOs,
CBOs etc. to make city growth more supportive for the have-not’s
sections of the urban society and to check the on set/spread of these
pandemics in future.
 As per UN Secretary-General *António Guterres, ‘Cities being engines
of dynamism and innovation, can help overcome development deficits.
They can spearhead reforms towards a New Social Contract to tackle
poverty, strengthen social protection, restore public trust and reach
people, who are on the margins or who face discrimination’. UNO has
also stated that, for making cities safe against disasters, new normal
for urban planners and managers would be to make cities places
where health, housing and security are prioritized for the most
vulnerable, not only out of social necessity, but also from a profound
commitment to human rights for all. This would essentially involve
planners/ government to focus on policies to protect land rights,
improve access to water, sanitation, public transport, electricity, health
and education facilities and ensure inclusive digital connectivi ty.
Giving greater focus to housing, basic services, sustainable mobility,
connectivity, protecting jobs and providing financial support to cities
will remain critical, to allow them to create financial resilience; build a
new urban economy that reduces disaster risk as well as addressing
climate change by developing nature-based solutions and investing in
sustainable infrastructure to enable low carbon transport.
 Cities also need to prepare detailed disaster mitigation plans at local
level involving local communities and stakeholders, in order to
effectively deal with such calamities at the local level with minimum
response time. Appropriate disaster mitigation strategies and structures
need to be created and made operational in all human settlements.
Cities must also create disaster preparedness centers at different levels
for their effective management.
 Improving cities and making them more sustainable would involve;
creating career and business opportunities; safe and affordable
housing, building resilient societies; making investment in public
transport to provide greater and unhindered access to safe, affordable,
accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road
safety providing universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible,
green and public spaces, including for women and children, older
persons and persons with disabilities; and making urban planning
Inclusive and sustainable. Sustainable development cannot be
achieved without significantly transforming the way we build and
manage our urban spaces.
 Each city and urban settlement remain unique and distinct, socially,
structurally, physically and economically, and accordingly needs to

develop, adapt and implement its own operational plans to effectively
counter the COVID-19 and other natural disasters, which appropriately
meet the needs of local population. Plans must have inbuilt flexibility to
address/react/cope/respond to any rapidly changing situation. Each city
has to evolve its own mechanism and agenda for effectively countering
the natural disasters.
 Involving local community leadership will remain vital for disseminating
any information, communicating with citizens and preparing them for
fighting the adverse impact of Covid 19 at local level. City authorities
must involve communities, in suggesting innovative, cost-effective,
operationally-efficient mechanism needed, for promoting safety and
reducing the spread of the pandemics at the local level.
 Actively involving religious and cultural institutions, having large
following and infrastructure in the area, will be helpful in creating
adequate response system and setting up centres for treating patients,
creating healthcare facilities, sourcing manpower, accessing
communities, raising resources, providing food and meeting daily needs
of the vulnerable/needy population living in Informal settlements,
homeless people, refugees, migrants, older persons, socially
marginalized groups etc.
Note; Author would like to thankfully and gratefully acknowledge and
appreciate, with gratitude, the vital and valuable input received from the
report, ‘State of Cities, 2020, from National League of Cities’; ‘Wikipedia and
WHO Guidelines’, without which this paper would have not been possible
in the present shape, intent and content.
References;
 Anthony Clarence ; State of the Cities, 2020; National League of Cities
Wikipedia; Sustainable Development Goal 11,
 Gupta JK; Strategies for Making Buildings Green and Energy Efficient;
published paper.
 UN-Habitat’s new report - Cities and Pandemics: Towards a more just,
green and healthy future
 McKinsey Global Institute: India’s Urban Awakening: Building Inclusive
Cities, Sustaining Economic Growth, Report April, 2010
 World Energy Council Report, 2016,
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goal_11
 World Health Organization; Strengthening Preparedness for COVID-19 in
Cities and Urban Settings- Interim Guidance for Local Authorities, 2019;
WHO-2019-nCoV-Urban_preparedness-2020.1-eng.pdf
Author:
* Ar. Jit Kumar Gupta
Founder Director; College of Architecture, I.E.T, Bhaddal
#344, Sector 40-A ; Chandigarh- 160036
Email; jit.kumar944@gmail.com

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