Manchester Briefing #25 – Cities for a Resilient Recovery: International Lessons on Recovery from COVID-19

Economy and Society: The social & financial systems that enable urban populations to live peacefully, and act collectively

Consider how existing social protection measures can support people who find themselves to be newly vulnerable. The significant impacts of COVID-19 have created new groups of vulnerable people, such as people on middle-incomes and small businesses owners who have experienced a sudden loss of income and are now financially vulnerable. These new vulnerable groups have not before been targeted for social protection. Consider how other countries have expanded existing systems to support newly vulnerable people, for example: 

• Adjust social protection programmes to give flexibility that can adjust to changing public health situations: 

– Directly link social protection measures to region-specific health or lockdown measures, e.g. tie social protection policies to tiers/categories in health responses 
– Establish a trigger system to rapidly adjust social protection measures to affected areas and groups 

• Enable vulnerable people to access the assistance they need: 

– Establish a beneficiary database to identify and assess the social protection needs of newly vulnerable people 

–Partner with existing community organisations to identify vulnerable people, develop community-based targeting, and ensure those who become newly vulnerable are not excluded 

-Facilitate vulnerable individuals to self-identify through a registration service, e.g. online application, supported by a means test for verification

–Expand sources of data to identify and verify intended beneficiaries, e.g. electricity or bank account data, employer’s redundancy data 

• Expand sources of data to identify and verify intended beneficiaries, e.g. electricity or bank account data, employer’s redundancy data

-Morocco transformed ‘conditional cash transfer’ (CCTs) to ‘labelled cash transfer’(LTCs) by removing the conditionality of continued school enrolment for cash transfers – resulting in reduced costs of programme implementation and reported increases in school enrolment and participation of children

Sources:

https://www.povertyactionlab.org/blog/11-20-20/strengthening-indonesias-social-protection-covid-19-era-strategy-and-lessons-evidence
https://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/cash-transfers-education-morocco

Consider ways to promote and support local tourism post-pandemic. Regional imbalances have created varying levels of economic impact on local economies. Areas that relied heavily on tourism and sport/music events prior to the pandemic are suffering disproportionate levels of unemployment and loss of trade. Consider a targeted local economic recovery strategy to boost tourism post-pandemic in local economies that have been hit hardest: 

• Develop new tourism packages and make them appropriate for post-pandemic tourism, e.g. taking into consideration the potential need for social distancing, for vaccination passports to travel, and for meeting expectations of COVID-safe measures that tourists will have 
• Recognise the opportunity to renew approaches to local tourism by adopting a community-centred tourism framework 

– Redefine and reorientate tourism based on the rights and interests of local communities and local people 
– Involve local businesses, tourism boards and the community in developing targeted strategies to rejuvenate local tourism, that are beneficial to the whole community and geographical area 
– Create partnerships with local businesses and the local tourism board to develop a collaborative marketing plan to attract tourism

• Support local businesses in gaining core health and safety certifications by offering advice on how to gain certification and who to go to for auditing and certification awards 
• Work with community voluntary groups to gain certifications such as ‘Blue Flag Beach’/’Tidy Towns’ to promote environmental and quality standards that will assist in marketing your local area to potential tourists 
• Prepare a targeted marketing strategy to promote local areas when tourism returns, which communicates how the health and safety of visitors is central  
• Collaborate with national tourism organisations (e.g. Visit Britain) and large holiday companies to promote domestic tourism 
• Provide advice and temporary financial support (e.g. moratoriums on council tax) for local businesses directly involved in tourism (e.g.  guest houses, to support their short-term financial viability)

Sources:

https://www.nationalplanningcommission.org.za/assets/Documents/Review%20of%20Economic%20Progress%20NPC%20Dec%202020.pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14616688.2020.1757748?needAccess=true

Infrastructure and Environment: The man-made and natural systems that provide critical services, and protect and connect urban assets, enabling the flow of foods, services, and knowledge

Consider measures for COVID-safe pedestrian crossings to reduce spread of the virus. COVID-19 is thought to spread through shared surface contact which has led to additional cleaning of public transport, public spaces, and other infrastructure. Pedestrian crossings have been targeted for improvement to avoid people having to press buttons and prevent groups of pedestrians forming as they wait to cross. For example, crossings have been reprogrammed to prioritise pedestrians or have been upgraded to touch-less systems to offer a more hygienic alternative to the standard push button. These measures prevent people from potentially contaminating their hands and encourage safe pedestrian behaviour by ensuring that those cautious of waiting near others and touching push buttons don’t cross dangerously. Consider: 

• Reprogramme traffic lights to prioritise pedestrians instead of road vehicles: 

– Change the traffic light default swap preference from vehicles to pedestrians – to reduce the time spent by groups of pedestrians at crossings
– Minimise the impact of new measures on increased traffic congestion by using traffic detection technology

• Install touchless technology to replace buttons: 

– Assess pedestrian crossings to determine the number of touchless push buttons required 
– Scope costs from potential suppliers, and assess affordability
–Partner with other interested authorities to conduct a trial, choosing locations where regular site inspection and user behaviour observation can be carried out.
– Using results from the trial, identify and allocate funding to road and transport authorities to install touch-less buttons
– Identify the utilisation of pedestrian crossings and develop an installation priority list
– Include a feedback sound in touchless technology to ensure ease of use for people with vision impairment and other disabilities
– Raise public awareness by fixing infographic signage to pedestrian crossing poles that provide functionality and instructions

Sources:

https://www.newstalk.com/news/contactless-pedestrian-crossing-buttons-1080335
https://www.braums.com.au/news/2020/touch-less-push-buttons-put-control-back-into-the-hands-of-the-public
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2020/09/27/traffic-lights-being-reprogrammed-to-prefer-humans/

Consider measures to reduce food waste in the light of changing habits. COVID-19 has strained food producers and distributors (e.g. disrupted food supply chains, problematized crop harvesting, impacted logistics and distribution), and this has impacted the amount of food waste created in the supply chain. COVID-19 has also changed household food waste creation by affecting household income, shopping habits and consumption patterns. The implications are broad. For example, the real cost of food has increased for some vulnerable households, who must purchase from supermarkets that will deliver rather than shop at their usual more affordable shops. Food waste has become an important concern for organisations and households, and some countries are taking strong action. Consider:  

• Charge businesses and families that waste food (such as in South Korea, where the proportion of recycling food increased from 2% to 95% in 2009) 
• Strengthen partnerships between food producers and distributors and local food initiatives 
• Develop local agriculture and growing food in and around cities, e.g. Singapore identified unused spaces in its cities to create urban farms to address supply chain issues cause by COVID-19 
• Partner with local volunteer initiatives that tackle food poverty and food waste:  

– Ensure voluntary food distribution groups have the necessary equipment to store nutritious food and distribute that to the community  
– Set up community fridges, e.g. local parishes or town halls to support local groups
– To ensure food that is not fit for consumption is recycled appropriately 
– Support groups in the collection, transportation and redistribution of food 

• Educate households on: 

– How to store food safely after purchasing
– Safe ways to store and re-use leftovers
– How to correctly recycle food waste
– Recipes on for using leftover ingredients
– How to safely donate excess food
– How to interpret food labels correctly

Sources:

https://ecopandas.com/south-korea-food-waste/
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/city-crops-food-waste
https://blog.winnowsolutions.com/4-ways-france-is-leading-the-food-waste-agenda
https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/19005530.gwynedd-community-food-sharing-efforts-financial-help/

Leadership and Strategy: The processes that promote effective leadership, inclusive decision-making, empowered stakeholders, and integrated planning.

Consider how whistleblowing apps can allow the public to report COVID-19 breaches. There have been well-documented breaches of the COVID-19 rules in, for example, workplaces, shops, public spaces. This has caused frustration and resentment, and made front-line staff question their perceived value and sacrifice. Current enforcement of the rules is led by the authorities, but there is potential for the public to report breaches via whistleblowing apps, which may help to target official enforcement activities. Consider: 

• The potential to establish a whistleblowing app to collect information from the public on COVID-19 breaches 
• Who should initiate and own an app to allow the public to report COVID-19 breaches, including the potential hesitation the public may have to report via Police websites 
• Whether reports will be made anonymously by the public 
• How to address and mitigate the potential for malicious or bogus reports 
• What thresholds need to be met before action is taken 
• How to analyse app data to identify patterns and trends of where, when and what breaches occur  
• How to report back on subsequent enforcement actions and outcomes to individual whistle-blowers and to the wider public 
• The need to increase capacity to engage, explain and encourage compliance by, for example, staff, trained volunteers, neighbourhood watch, local organisations (see COVID Marshals TMB Issue 28 January 22nd) 

Sources:

https://www.todayonline.com/8days/seeanddo/thingstodo/theres-app-you-report-people-breaking-safe-distancing-rules-heres-what

Consider how to publicly respond to vocal vaccine deniers. The success of the vaccine programme will, in part, depend on how many people accept the vaccine. The prevailing narrative in a country may influence those who are anxious about the vaccine or uncertain about whether they should have it. Often there are vocal groups in support of, and in opposition to, vaccines and those groups are already very active around COVID-19. Governments will be a main facilitator of vaccine programmes so (in collaboration with partners) should consider addressing voices that oppose vaccine programmes. WHO provides guidelines for responding to vaccine deniers, including broad principles for health authority spokespersons on how to behave when confronted. The principles are based on psychological research on persuasion, public health, communication studies, and on WHO risk communication guidelines. The WHO guidelines cover: 

• Tactics by vocal vaccine deniers e.g. skew science, shift hypothesis, censor, and attack opposition 
• Who is the target for advocating vaccines i.e. the public are your audience, not the vaccine deniers 
• The speaker should represent the well-grounded scientific consensus 
• Verbal and nonverbal skills, and listening skills 
• Do’s and don’ts of verbal and nonverbal communication 
• Constructing the argument to support vaccination 

Sources:

https://thehill.com/policy/international/530744-un-secretary-general-warns-against-vaccinationalism-on-covid-19-vaccine
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/21/covid-north-east-and-yorkshire-vaccine-supply-cut-to-catch-up-lagging-regions