How can we measure the readiness of the urban environment to deal with COVID-19.
It is interesting to look at the COVID-19 problem from the perspective of Urbanization, and essentially cities readiness to deal with a global pandemic of such magnitude.
More than half of world population lives in cities.
With the current situation, the agglomeration of people, businesses and movement amplifies the pandemic risk.
It is quite obvious that the number of those inhabitants who are less privileged to shelter from this situation, or even be able to afford dis-mobilization at the time of social distancing is large. Essentially, cities with agglomerations of urban poor and deep inequalities are more vulnerable.
Governments could hugely benefit from a general preparedness for a better response to a pandemic outbreak. In most cities, no measures, which are thought through and trained for have been developed as of the date of today.
We are dealing with this crisis blindly and each city is left to it on its own.
When it comes to infectious disease outbreaks cities are in the toughest of positions. With over half of worlds population living in cities, exposed to high mobility and increased human contact it’s precisely the urban environment which is to blame for the amplified pandemic risk.
And that problem doesn’t just stay exclusive to big cities. Secondary urban hubs hosting a smaller urban population are also at risk.
Scholars have found that pandemics often emerge from the edge of the cities, before they attack the center.
The paralysis is not just on city mobility but also on the global supply chains, travel networks, airports, specific high density neighborhoods, various business centers and all public spaces as they all become sources of contamination.
It’s a grim reality of urban hubs, and one might find those facts very discouraging.
But, according to the article published by Robert Muggah and Rebecca Katz for the World Economic Forum on Cities and Urbanization…
Cities are a part of a solution.
Cities play a central role for mitigating, adapting and preparing for pandemics.
Today, the preparedness of cities varies around the world.
As the article states:
“Cities with a high concentration of urban poor and deep inequalities are potentially more vulnerable than those that are better resourced, less crowded, and more inclusive.”
This is something that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust and Skoll Foundation have all recognized and working to address.
Two weeks into the pandemic we can see how some major urban centers managed the situation, while others were completely unprepared for the hit.
From an example of Taiwan and Singapore we can see better preparedness since those cities have already had been hit with past pandemics.
The spread of the disease was quickly contained by those three factors being applied:
- those cities had investigative capacities
- they had health system in place
- and their leadership was trained for mitigating and containing the situation.
All this resulted in the strongest factor of all, being an ability of making a fast decision, and executing it quickly.
To day, proactive surveillance, routine communication. Rapid isolation, personal and community protection (social distancing) prove to be the critical factor of the prevention. Once quickly applied and executed the general spread curve gets flattened.
At a secondary importance sits an ability to actually face the volume of health care necessary to help the people at need and minimalize deaths.
Some countries have faced this issue very fast, but rapidly responding to the need with a solution in place. China has built hospitals in 8 days, when many well developed countries up till today struggle to outsource on medical equipment.
An ability to mobilize the community, experts and businesses and respond in an instant is a defining factor as to how the situation will get managed on the long run.
“The extent of a city’s preparedness depends on its capacity to prevent, detect, respond and care for patients. This means having action plans, staff and budgets in place for rapid response. It also requires having access to laboratories to test for infectious disease and real-time monitoring and reporting of infectious clusters as they occur. The ability to communicate and implement emergency response plans is also essential, as is the availability, quality and accessibility of hospitals, clinics, care facilities and essential equipment.”
This article is written on the back of information shared by Robert Muggah and Rebecca Katz for the World Economic Forum on Cities and Urbanization. You can read this article here. To read more from me, follow me on Medium and join my exclusive Facebook for architectural entrepreneurs, where I show you how to turn your unique knowledge into a profitable business.