Citizens are increasingly becoming aware of the significance of clean and healthy living environments over anything else. In the post-Covid world, the pressure is expected to mount further. Ensuring a clean and healthy environment is a complex task and requires governmental attention in multiple aspects of urban governance and development. Cities can do so by making the right choices in policy-making for enhancing environmental health, improving air quality, water and sanitation facilities, waste management, and conserving biodiversity.
Covid-19 came as a shocker for cities. A majority of them were ill-equipped and not prepared to deal with a disaster of this magnitude. It caused havoc. Health infrastructure in cities collapsed, economic activities suffered, and people in informal settlements or migrant populations faced an acute shortage of basic amenities while dealing with the effects of the crisis. Local governments having sparse resources were impacted severely. Yet cities managed to bounce back. They returned to normalcy with an eye on the rear-view mirror for learning from their mistakes. Now the cities are creating policies for recovery, and most of them are focusing on green recovery. It is a crucial time for the transition towards climate-smart approaches for rebuilding cities as the policies cities make today will decide their course of development for years to come. The Pandemic has demonstrated the abilities of local governments and communities to mitigate the health and economic impacts of health disasters. The world has witnessed many innovative initiatives and solutions from cities for building local resilience to tackle any such health crisis in the future. Cities are also building resilience strategies keeping in mind immediate environmental and impending climate change impacts.
The primary focus has to be on decorbonising urban activities, including business and economic activities and optimal energy use in urban operations. According to the Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity report, low-carbon measures could cut emissions from urban buildings, transport, materials use and waste by almost 90 per cent by 2050; support 87 million jobs in 2030 and 45 million jobs in 2050, and generate a return of at least USD 23.9 trillion by 2050. This will make cities resilient and build their long-term sustainable development plan in which their economic activities are not dependent on fossil-fuel use.
Green reboot
Covid-19 has proved to be the biggest disruptor of economic activities, infrastructure development and achievement of global goals in the last 100 years. Cities have gradually restarted their urban systems, and now, they will also have to make strategies for achieving global goals. Cities are slowly shifting their focus from short-term pandemic relief measures to long-term plans for building resilience without compromising their development agenda.
Local governments have to take essential decisions to allocate limited resources effectively for decarbonising economic and business activities. In the post-Covid world, ULBs face a shortage of funds due to the impact on revenue generation and transfer of existing funds towards Covid relief measures.
Further, cities will also have to make sure that every action is inclusive for achieving the global targets. The United Nations has declared the “Decade of Action” to ensure the SDGs are achieved within the next ten years. Since most of these goals depend on how cities perform on different parameters, it will lean considerably on urban policies directed towards green recovery plans.
The ‘Green Reboot’ report estimates that if cities in 21 emerging markets, studied by the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank prioritise climate-smart growth in their recovery plans, they stand to gain as much as USD seven trillion in investments and could create 144 million new jobs by 2030.
Protecting the environmental ecosystem in cities is also a priority for local governments in the post-Covid world. Experts have suggested opting for nature-based solutions to mitigate the negative impacts of emission-induced climate change events to address urban issues. The report also says that nature-based solutions can provide up to 37 per cent of the emissions reductions needed by 2030 to keep global temperature increases under 2 degrees Celsius while improving air quality and promoting people’s well-being. Nature-based solutions could also improve natural ecosystems that underpin sectors that rely on nature for inputs—such as construction, agriculture, and food and beverage—that generate $44 trillion or half of global GDP.
Global learning
Many cities worldwide used technology for containing the spread of the virus and providing relief to citizens. Technological integration was also used for assisting local businesses to thrive during the lockdown and curfew days. The central learning was that cities and local governments have to be adaptive, agile, and resourceful to integrate new systems in their operation and management framework. A significant shift has been seen in the transportation, energy efficiency and housing sector.
Globally, the Pandemic had a devastating impact on informal settlements. Migrants either have to leave cities or live with improper civic services. The Pandemic has again highlighted a sharp disparity in access to civic services between the rich and the poor. Therefore, the focus of cities should be on making delivery of urban services equitable. In technology adaptation, cities have to make sure people of all classes have access to digital services through accessible common service centres if they do not own internet-enabled devices. Embedding digital technologies in governance shall also include citizen participation, data safety, and responsive
governance systems.
The Pandemic has also impacted how people work in urban settings. Such changes were seen worldwide. With people working from homes or going to offices on alternate days, cities have begun looking at the impacts on public transport use. The transport choices have also seen a shift in favour of private vehicles. Cities around the world have seen a decline in the use of public buses and metro trains. Keeping this in mind, cities in the developed world have built more exclusive spaces for cycling and walking. Some European cities are working on the concept of 15-minute cities where people can walk or cycle to places they need to travel for their daily needs within 15 minutes. The mix-land use and importance of public spaces in cities have come to the fore. And, it will be reflected in the way city make their development plans for the future.
It has become clear that cities are prioritising environmental balancing with development to create a cushion for cities and citizens to absorb the impacts of imminent disasters and pandemics. And, to make this a reality, cities will have to improve their functional capacity and enhance their access to updated knowledge
and resources.
The ‘Green Reboot’ report estimates that if cities in 21 emerging markets studied by IFC prioritise climate-smart growth in their recovery plans, they stand to gain as much as USD seven trillion in investments and couWld create 144 million new jobs by 2030