World City Day was first commemorated on October 31, 2014 in Shanghai, China. Since then, World City Day has become a momentum for urban actors and observers to gather, discuss and network in an effort to increase cooperation towards sustainable urban areas. In the quest for sustainable urbanization, urbanization must be optimized and development challenges must be resolved. In this effort, global agendas such as the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be used as a reference for sustainable urban development.
Cities are believed to be drivers of economic growth and poverty alleviation. This view has caused the phenomenon of urbanization to continue to increase in the last decade. Urbanization with good quality will bring prosperity to the city community, including urbanites. However, if urbanization is not managed, there will be more problems than benefits. When faced with the same problem, cities that manage urbanization well are more likely to be able to resolve and emerge from them quickly and precisely.
As the health crisis caused by the SARS-Cov-2 virus in Wuhan is developing into a pandemic, cities around the world are in severe shock. The city is the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to ADB (2020), about 90% of Covid-19 cases occur in urban areas. Major cities in the world are hot spots for case transmission, such as those in Wuhan, Milan, New York, Mumbai, Jakarta and Surabaya. The high number of cases in the city has an impact on all aspects of community life, especially social and economic.
Although the severity of this pandemic is different, all cities are implementing various means to stop the spread of the virus. One response that many cities have adopted has been to restrict activities and encourage people to stay at home. Currently, almost all activities are carried out at home, from work, school, play, worship to selling. Changes in the pattern of community activity make the face of the city during a pandemic very different. Although currently there have been some easing in the implementation of several activities with strict health protocols, there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding the Covid-19 pandemic including when this pandemic will end.
Departing from the importance of joint efforts in dealing with the pandemic, RuangWaktu Knowledge Hub for Sustainable [Urban] Development together with the Habitat Indonesia Partnership held a talk show entitled “Post-Coronavirus City” which discussed the city's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, this talk show will try to discuss the picture of what kind of city to expect when this pandemic ends and how we can achieve it.
Names and Titles of Speakers
Drs. H. Sutiaji, The Mayor of Malang;
Johan Rachmat Sentosa, Yayasan KARINA-KWI;
Ranitya Nurlita, Waste Solution Hub