资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Interview 22 June 2020

Pandemics permanently change cities. New York and London built new sanitation systems in the 1800s after typhoid and cholera outbreaks. In Bombay, city planning only truly began after a deadly bout of plague.

Today’s densely packed cities are again being forced to adapt to a disease. As business centres and roads are shut, parks have stayed open and pedestrian paths are being widened to allow for social distancing. Singapore has mooted overhauling its Central Business District with public housing and leisure facilities, reflecting our remote working futures.

How can mayors and managers lead cities out of this pandemic? “City managers should not shy away from technology, allowing communities to come up with innovative solutions and taking bold steps to be resilient,” the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Dato’ Seri Maimunah Sharif tells GovInsider.

Advice for city leaders

Cities of the future will have to be adaptable, she says. In particular, “city leaders need to be data driven”.

UN Habitat has earmarked US$6 million for projects on urban data, mapping and knowledge across 64 countries. “Our ‘new normal’ is using technology and digital,” she says. The funding will help governments build community data projects; map out potential disease hotspots; and set aside public spaces and buildings for health and emergency services with urban planning software.

But city leaders mustn’t just rely on anonymous data sources. “Engage with your community, your community leaders”, the UN Under-Secretary General says.

UN Habitat’s Covid response plan sets aside US$52 billion of funding to increase community ownership of initiatives. It will connect communities with formal governance mechanisms, giving them resources and power to lead and run projects.forever.