The book provides a global perspective of local government response towards the COVID-19 pandemic through the analysis of a sample of countries in all continents. It examines the responses of local government, as well as the responses local government developed in articulation with other tiers of government and with civil society organizations, and explores the social, economic and policy impacts of the pandemic. The book offers an innovative contribution on the role of local government during the pandemic and discusses lessons for the future. The COVID-19 pandemic had a global impact on public health, in the well-being of citizens, in the economy, on civic life, in the provision of public services, and in the governance of cities and other human settlements, although in an uneven form across countries, cities and local communities. Cities and local governments have been acting decisively to apply the policy measures defined at national level to the specific local conditions. COVID-19 has exposed the inadequacy of the crisis response infrastructures and policies at both national and local levels in these countries as well as in many others across the world. But it also exposed much broader and deeper weaknesses that result from how societies are organized, namely the insecure life a substantial proportion of citizens have, as a result of economic and social policies followed in previous decades, which accentuated the impacts of the lockdown measures on employment, income, housing, among a myriad of other social dimensions. Besides the analysis of how governments, and local government, responded to the public health issues raised by the spread of the virus, the book deals also with the diversity of responses local governments have adopted and implemented in the countries, regions, cities and metropolitan areas. The analysis of these policy responses indicates that previously unthinkable policies can surprisingly be implemented at both national and local levels.

Autorentext

Carlos Nunes Silva, Geographer, PhD, Professor Auxiliar at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon, Portugal. His research interests focus mainly on urban and metropolitan governance, the history and theory of urban planning, urban planning in Africa, urban e-planning, urban planning ethics, local government policies, local e-government, and research methods. He is member of the Editorial Board of 'Planning Perspectives', the editor of the book series 'Local and Urban Governance', the founding editor-in-chief of the 'International Journal of E-Planning Research (IJEPR)' , and Chair of the International Geographical Union Commission on 'Geography of Governance'.

Inhalt

Chapter 1. Local Government and the Covid-19 Pandemic: An Introduction (Carlos Nunes Silva).- PART I.- Chapter 2. Renaissance of Public Health as a Determining Factor of Urban Governance (Maria de Pilar Tellez Soler and Remy Sietchiping).- Chapter 3. Local actions to combat COVID-19 crisis: Contextual insights into local institutional responses to COVID-19 in Europe and the United States (Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko and Arto Haveri).- Chapter 4. Metropolises Overcoming the Covid-19 Pandemic: An urgent call for territorialising global agendas at sub-national levels (Rafael H. Forero and Remy Sietchiping).- Chapter 5. The political economy of COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learned from the responses of local government in Sub-Saharan Africa (Matamanda et al.).- PART II.- Chapter 6. German Local Authorities in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Challenges, impacts and adaptations (Jochen Franzke).- Chapter 7. Momentum of Federalism? National, State, and Municipal Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Germany (Sascha Krannich).- Chapter 8. Local Government response towards COVID-19 Pandemic in Portugal (Carlos Nunes Silva).- Chapter 9. Local Government response to COVID-19. Some insights from Spain (Ramon Galindo Caldés and Marc Vilalta Reixach).- Chapter 10. Administrative boundaries and COVID-19. The case of Catalonia, Spain (Galindo Caldés et al.).- Chapter 11. Covid-19 and multilevel territorial governance. Transcalar patterns, frictions of competencies and planning conflicts in Italy (Teresa Graziano).- Chapter 12. Local and National Government response towards COVID-19 Pandemic in Lombardy, Italy (Sara Belotti).- Chapter 13. The 2020 Pandemic Governance in Italy and Lombardy: Institutional Conflict in Health Emergency (Renzo Riboldazzi).- Chapter 14. Reorganisation of businesses, processes and the development of policies for safely emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy (Anna Trono and Valentina Castronuovo).- Chapter 15. Coping with COVID-19 Pandemic in Greece - A Joint Effort at the National and Urban Level (Stratigea et al).- Chapter 16. Covid-19 Crisis Management in Croatia: The Contribution of Subnational Levels of Government (Dana Dobric Jambrovic).- PART III.- Chapter 17. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on local government units in Poland (Mariusz W. Sienkiewicz and Katarzyna Kuc-Czajkowska).- Chapter 18. Presidential Elections in Poland during the Covid-19 Pandemic: An Unexpected Challenge for Political Actors and the Relationship between National Government and Local Government.- (Tomasz Kaczmarek and Lukasz Mikula).- Chapter 19. Local self-government and governance during Covid-19 pandemic in Slovakia (Ján Bucek).- Chapter 20. Anti- and post-COVID-19 measures taken by the Czech Government in relation to the spatial distribution of COVID-19 indicators (Paszto et al.).- Chapter 21. The Role of Regional and Local Governance in Dealing with the Socioeconomic Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Russia (Glezer et al.).- PART IV.- Chapter 22. Local Governments in Networked Space: Changing social media networks of local governments during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey (Eda Ünlü-Yücesoy et al.).- Chapter 23. Jalisco versus COVID-19: Local governance and the response to the health, social, and economic emergency (Katia Magdalena Lozano Uvario and Rocio Rosales Ortega).- Chapter 24. Local governments and the meanings of social distancing: Implementation deficiencies in the times of COVID-19 (Paulo Nascimento).- Chapter 25. Small-scale farming and alternative food alliances in the context of COVID-19 crisis in Brazil (Felipe da Silva Machado).- Chapter 26. The South African Local Government and Municipal Planning Responses to COVID-19 (Verna Nel and Martin Lewis).- Chapter 27. The Impact of Covid-19 on Urban Form and Governance: Early Experiences from the City of Cape Town (Daniel J du Plessis).- Chapter 28. Sub-national Political Culture and Covid-19 Pandemic: Governance Response towards Life and Livelihood Vulnerabilities of Urban Poor in India (Chatterji et al.).- Chapter 29. Technological interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic in India (Falguni Mukherjee).- Chapter 30. End of the World: New Zealand's local government and Covid-19 (Jeffrey McNeill and Andy Asquith).