Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

The ‘Building Urban Economic Resilience during and after COVID-19’[1] produced by UN-HABITAT and partners outlines the different economic recovery initiatives adopted by cities across the world. Urban areas, as “engines of growth” have been severely impacted by COVID-19 and are predicted to take a leading role in recovery. This project is focused on “strengthening the capacities of local governments globally, to design, implement, and monitor sustainable, resilient and inclusive COVID-19 economic responses, recovery, and rebuilding plans”. The document presents city case studies from the African Region, Arab Region, Asia and the Pacific Region, Europe Region, and the Latin America and the Caribbean Region. Over the next two issues of TMB, we will present city recovery initiatives from each of these regions. This case study focuses on the Europe Region and the African Region:

Europe Region[2]

Barcelona, Spain, is a city which frequently experiences “flash floods and coastal flooding, as well as heat waves and forest fires”. Prior to COVID-19, Barcelona was grappling with rapidly “growing social inequalities powered by low rental housing affordability and growing energy poverty”. Barcelona City Council have identified seven strategic economic recovery goals, including[3]:

• “New models to make Barcelona a more resilient city;
• Maintain and strengthen the city’s business network;
• Protect jobs and foster employment;
• Promote local consumption as a priority;
• Protect and relaunch the city’s international reputation;
• Open up Barcelona to talent, to investment and to visitors;
• Define transformational solutions with a metropolitan vision”

The measures through which the City Council aim to achieve the above goal include:

• Provide subsidies and funding to increase business liquidity and mitigate the damage caused to the “production network” by the pandemic (e.g. cash flow challenges)
• Establish training and advice services to enhance local skills, targeted at high-risk or vulnerable groups within the economy
• Employ strategic communication and marketing programmes to promote and regenerate tourism in the city
• Design economic development tools which will enable “synergies between the city’s socio-economic and business networks”
• Review and amend regulations and administrative processes to generate flexibility in the city’s economic reactivation

Tirana, Albania, experienced two major earthquakes in 2019 which had devastating impacts on over 2,000 homes. The city was not equipped with an emergency preparedness plan prior to the pandemic or the 2019 earthquakes, which led to the municipality relying solely on central government support and guidance during both events. The municipality is focusing on the following recovery priorities:

• Design and develop a “Crisis and Resilience Management Plan to include pandemic and earthquake response”
• Implement “Orbital Forest”, a green recovery strategy which aims to plant a “wall of 2 million trees” around the city of Tirana
• Take advantage of the opportunities resented by COVID-19 to renew and reconstruct the Kombinati neighbourhood which was most severely impacted by the 2019 earthquakes and transform it to be a “smart city neighbourhood”

African Region[4]

Arua, Uganda, is challenged by “heavy run-off water which regularly destroys crops and homes, significantly reducing agricultural production levels and housing quality”. Local government COVID-19 recovery initiatives include:

• Focus on the agricultural sector through “community sensitization” on urban farming and increasing the capacities of farmers to build and adopt new modern farming methods. This includes local government lobbying for financial and technical funding support for farmers for longer-term recovery
• Provide business development support and connect small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to targeted funding
• Provide business continuity support by “automating ICT infrastructure” and helping businesses to build their technical capacities

Harare, Zimbabwe, is faced with “rapid urbanisations, deindustrialisation and increasing numbers of people working in the informal sector, leading to urban poverty, barriers to service delivery and lagging education, health, water and sanitation, and housing systems”. The local government recovery priorities include:

• Boost recovery through the informal sector, by building “safer and more modern market spaces”
• Improve public sanitation and work to support and increase accessibility of services, particularly for women who have experienced increased gender-based violence during lockdown. The local government have partnered with UNDP, the national government and Oxfam on this initiative
• In partnership with Oxfam, the Harare city government are working to engage organised groups (e.g. women’s savings groups) to target women and employ them to support city recovery initiatives

References:

[1] https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2021/03/global-compendium-of-practices-covid-19.pdf

[2] Including selected countries in Central Asia, Western Asia, and north America

[3] https://www.barcelona.cat/reactivacioeconomica/en/action-plan

[4] Ibid 1.

Working from home became the new normal for various sectors during the pandemic. However, this “pandemic-style” of working from home may not translate smoothly to post-pandemic working. A recent McKinsey survey of 100 executives across various industries and locations found that 90% of organisations intend to adopt a hybrid model of working (a combination of remote and on-site working). However, many organisations have only just begun to consider how this new approach will be integrated into organisational practice, resulting in employees feeling uncertain and anxious. Consider:

• Be transparent and open from the start with employees. If still in the planning stage, communicate the uncertainty of plans for remodelling current working practices
• Be clear on the current expectations of employees considering that their personal circumstances may have changed during the pandemic, and they may not be able to make a swift return to the office (e.g. consider a phased-in approach)
• Support and encourage “small moments of engagement”, which can include coaching, mentoring and co-working
• Reimagine the leadership process in your organisation. Train managers on “remote leadership” and re-evaluate current performance metrics so these represent how employees might succeed when working from home
• Develop new codes of practice (e.g. for online meetings) so that employees don’t always feel they must be available and don’t have to go from one meeting to the next, relentlessly
• Establish new ways of monitoring and evaluating employee attendance and productivity, so that employees don’t feel they need to be constantly logged into their computers to prove they are working. Focus on the work output, and assess if employees have the tools and skills to succeed, before assessing how many hours they spent logged in
• Pilot a hybrid approach that suits your organisational context and is tailored to the needs of specific teams and roles (e.g. evaluate what roles require on-site working)
• Develop new ways of monitoring employee wellbeing

In the UK, it is expected that youth unemployment will rise by over 640,000 in 2020 taking the total to over 1 million. Under 25s may face years of reduced pay and limited job prospects long-term. Consider strategies to tackle youth unemployment:

• Encourage organizations to develop partnerships with UK employers, government, education institutions, and civil society to create quality work placements for young people
• Promote the benefits of employer networks e.g. lower recruitment costs and improved staff retention to facilitate more work placements
• Consider measures such as the ‘EU measure against youth unemployment’. The Commission wants EU countries to increase their support for the young through their recovery and suggest member states should invest at least €22 billion for youth employment. Initiatives also include:
  • Youth Employment Support which includes The Youth Guarantee which aims to ensure people under the age of 25 get a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education.
  • Extending the Youth Guarantee which covers people aged 15 - 29 (previously the upper limit was 25) and:
    • Reaches out to vulnerable groups, such as minorities and young people with disabilities
    • Provides tailored counselling, guidance and mentoring
    • Reflects the needs of companies, providing the skills required and short preparatory courses