Learning from Covid-19 in creating resilient urban futures

URBANIZATION is projected to rise at an unprecedented rate over the next three decades, from 56 percent in 2021 to 68 percent in 2050. While the future of humanity is undoubtedly urban where cities are hubs of jobs and opportunities, an increase in population density and informal settlement in high-risk urban areas are mounting challenges for populations in those areas.

Since 2020, cities around the world have faced even more challenges with the Covid-19 pandemic that exacerbates the vulnerabilities and brings a tremendous impact on urban health and well-being. The Covid-19 pandemic reveals a new reality: cities are living with uncertainties and facing much more complex risks. To transition to resilient and sustainable urban futures, cities need to evolve to reflect the interconnectedness of people, the planet and prosperity. Cities must transition to systematic risk governance with an enhanced understanding of systematic risks.

Business as usual will not lead to changes. Cities are at the forefront of opportunities to learn from the systematic impact of the pandemic and the complexity of risks amid climate emergencies. Local authorities are in a vital position to ensure that climate, health and other risks are integrated into the city planning and financing processes, allowing stakeholders to collaborate and take collective actions to reduce risks. Equally important is mutual learning and support among cities across countries with their tested and innovative experiences. Strengthening municipal governments’ capacities in understanding the systematic nature of risks, disaster risk reduction and public health emergency response, as well as their abilities to collaborate and learn from each other’s experiences, remain critical to the success of cities in this transformed world.

Building a resilient urban future

I am fortunate to be one of the 125 Filipinos who attended and completed the virtual training workshop on “Transitioning to Complex Risk Management and Resilient Urban Futures: Harnessing South-South Cooperation and Learning from Covid-19.”

Loretta Hieber Girardet, chief of Risk Knowledge, Monitoring and Capacity Development Branch, United Nations Office for Disaster and Risk Reduction (UNDRR), in her opening remarks, said: “We need today a decisive shift toward disaster prevention. And to achieve this, we must work across silos to understand systematic and complex risks. And we need to be able to assess these risks when we design and develop the cities, the infrastructure, the power supply, water, transport systems, as well as schools and hospitals.”

Celso Bambaren, unit chief of the Country Health Emergency Preparedness and International Health Regulations, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), highlighted from the experience during the pandemic that local governments have a critical role in responding to health emergencies and they must ensure an equitable recovery to achieve universal health access.

“To protect and improve the lives of the population of cities and ensure development progress promote resilience, cities must invest in strengthening health infrastructure and services by adopting integrated policies and plans that take into account vulnerable groups by age, gender and disability, with a focus on marginal settlement areas, and that promote health inclusion before, during and after an emergency or disaster,” said Bamberan.

Xiaojun Grace Wang, trust fund director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), introduced the principles and modalities of

South-South and triangular cooperation (SSTC) and the significant contribution of South-South Cooperation in the Covid-19 response, public health and disaster risk reduction.

She highlighted that peer-topeer learning can play a significant role in supporting local governments to become resilient. “The ability to share knowledge and apply good practices is crucial for cities to optimize their responses and build resilient futures. The exchange of knowledge, mobilization of expertise and research resources, training and capacity development are becoming more and more important in the changing world that has been significantly impacted by the pandemic and challenged by complex risks at all levels,” Wang continued.

Sanjaya Bhatia, head of UNDRR Global Education and Training Institute, introduced Making Cities Resilient 2030 as a global coalition of urban resilience partners aiming to support local governments to improve their resilience to risk. Bhatia emphasized that local authorities could shape new and innovative policies that strengthen health systems, improve local social protection, pursue climatefriendly solutions and continue on the pathway toward resilience.

“Cities need access to different types of tools, partners and services. Vertical integration between national and local governments is very important, and the partnership with the private sector, with universities, is also very key,” explained Bhatia.

Qudsia Huda, head of Disaster Risk Management and Resilience, World Health Organization (WHO), said in her closing message: “Complex risk management approach should be able to protect the workforce and the health infrastructure in the cities through a whole-of-society approach. This warrants robust and risk-informed governance with strong leadership at all levels. Governors and mayors play that vital role in the cities, and we count on you.”

Jointly organized by the UNDRR Global Education and Training Institute (GETI), the UNOSSC under the framework of its Cities Project, PAHO and WHO, the training served as introductory training for urban leaders, planners and practitioners, aiming to increase the understanding and capacities to manage complex and systematic disaster risks, and enhance public health emergency response preparedness, and SouthSouth cooperation; better prepare city stakeholders for transitioning to living with pandemic, fostering collaboration and making cities resilient for future crises — especially health emergencies and uncertainties; and facilitate city-to-city partnerships in SSTC toward sustainable development.

The four sessions focused on providing participants with an introduction to disaster risk reduction, public emergency preparedness and SSTC; the utilization of the Public Health System Resilience Addendum of the Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities in strengthening cities’ disaster risk reduction planning and implementation; introduction of the whole of society and multisectoral and cross-sectoral approaches to all-hazard health emergency preparedness in urban settings; and cities’ innovative experiences in transitioning to living with Covid-19 and managing complex risk scenarios.

Over 2,700 registrations from 175 countries and territories and more than 1,300 participants joined the sessions. At the end of the course, 795 people responded to the online post-webinar survey. Only 360 participants passed the final assessment and obtained the certificate of completion.

The author is the executive director of the Young Environmental Forum and a nonresident fellow of Stratbase ADR Institute. He completed his climate change and development course at the University of East Anglia (United Kingdom) and an executive program on sustainability leadership at Yale University (USA). You can email him at ludwig.federigan@gmail.com.