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CASE STUDY from ASToN (2019- 2022): Supporting responses to COVID-19

Back in 2020, the global pandemic has brought a time of uncertainty and disruption for everyone in the ASToN network. With regards to how we could respond to the disruption and continue to deliver the programme, we had to recognise that:

1 – A methodology like ASToN is sensitive to shifting priorities and needs, and

2 – The cities in the ASToN network have been hit by COVID-19 at different paces and in different ways, and cities will have deployed different levels of response to the pandemic.

That’s why we decided to host a series of open, online calls around the following three horizons of response to COVID-19:
• React – Immediate response and action required to stop the spread of the virus and enforce confinement;
• Stabilise – Considering how to deliver vital services to citizens as confinement continues;
• Recover – Easing of restrictions and action focused on adjusting to the new environment and effects.

These sessions featured an expert presentation relating to responses to COVID-19 in each of the 3 horizons. We were joined by Lorenzo Kihlgren Grandi, lecturer in City Diplomacy at Sciences Po, Paris who provided examples from cities across Europe and South America to prompt and stimulate conversation.

Over the course of the conversations we noticed a shift in tone and mindset lining up with the 3 horizons we were discussing. In the first call (React), a lot of conversation centred around the African realities making this crisis particularly worrying; that many are not able to build as much locally, lockdown is not possible in the same way and there is the ever present issue of corruption. In the second call (Stabilise), we heard more about how ASToN cities were starting to reflect and look at their strengths and weaknesses. By the final call (Recover), many participants spoke about the need to see the opportunities and possibilities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the way it’s shifted people’s attitude and behaviour towards digital & technology.