Better food and more sports – these are the ingredients of a programme from the Antalya Muratpaşa Municipality in Turkey, to support its citizens for a healthy living during and after the corona pandemic. Although the number of Covid 19 cases has decreased in the summer months in Antalya as in the world, it has been observed that the situation is far from completely normalising. In order to contribute to the citizens to combat the Covid19 Pandemic more effectively in the long term, the administration has sought new comprehensive methods.
Continue reading “Antalya Muratpaşa – Healthy living”Category: Public services
Istanbul – Overview of measures
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has created a summary of the policy responses to the corona pandemic and the plans for recovery. You can download the document here. More information (in Turkish) is available here
Contact: Asena Selçuk
Madrid – On demand buses
Madrid has launched a new on-demand bus service pilot to connect two hospitals in the outskirts of the city. The pilot has been launched in cooperation with Viavan, among other companies. During the pilot phase the bus service will be free of charge. More information (in Spanish) here.
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Madrid – 352 measures for recovery
Madrid’s City Council approved the ‘Pactos de la Villa’, an agreement listing 352 measures to revive the city after the pandemic. Measures include the reinforcement of social services, a telecare program, and the creation of a municipal social card and many more. Read more here and here (in Spanish)
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Florence – All aboard, trams services
The number of the available seats on tram vehicles has been increased from 40 to 103, thus reaching a capacity of 40% compared to the total 272 persons capacity. This is part of the city’s steps towards phase 3 which will include reopening of schools, and hopes to reinstate 100% of public transport services on rail and road. Current measures on the tram include hand sanitising hand gels and markers indicating where to sit or stand. Read more here
Contact: Alessandra Barbieri
Lille Metropole – Cycling boom
Lille Metropole has implemented temporary cycle lanes to address the need of its increasing amount of users. Cycling has considerably increased within Lille Metropole area over the last two months, with an increase of 60% compared to the pre-covid period. Moreover, Lille Metropole launched the third edition of the metropolitan cycling challenge in June, inspired by the European cycling challenge organised up to 2017. The goal is simple, register with your family, friends or colleagues and try to cycle as many kilometres as possible during one month. A friendly competition to enhance cycling and promote regular users. More information (in French) here.
Contact: Christophe Bolot
Berlin – Temporary bicycle infrastructure
The city of Berlin is dramatically increasing its ongoing production of bicycle infrastructure in order to improve the conditions for safe mobility while relieving streets, buses and trains. Berlin’s districts are cooperating closely with the Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection in setting up set up pop-up bike lanes, temporary cycling infrastructure.
Continue reading “Berlin – Temporary bicycle infrastructure”Sevilla – Tracking COVID-19 in wastewater
Sevilla’s public water company is using waste water to detect and anticipate outbreaks of COVID-19. By testing samples of wastewater that it freezes monthly as part of ongoing protocol, the company is able to study how early the virus arrived in the city and better understand the prevalence of the virus. More information (in Spanish) here.
Contact: Adrián Reina Hurtado
Cardiff – Real change campaign
A new campaign will build on the recent success in helping vulnerable people off the streets, in which two large hotels opened as additional emergency accommodation and shipping container homes were used as isolation units for clients displaying coronavirus symptoms. The campaign asks people not to give their spare change to those begging on the street, but instead to signpost vulnerable people to the services that can deliver real change in their lives. Read more here
Contact: Beverley Watson
Malmo – Acting on violence against women
As part of its pandemic response Malmo has instigated measures such as a 24-hour helpline and counselling centres; a campaign directed to young people in the age range of 13 – 21, suffering from honour related violence on Snapchat; a follow up campaign on Facebook directed to girls and women aged 15 – 44; and sharing information at local bus stops about where perpetrators could go if they wanted help with changing their behaviour. Read more here and here
Contact: Margot Olsson
Vienna – For public services
Vienna has dedicated a section of its website to public services, and shares a dedicated video produced by the Austrian Association of Public Companies. Public and municipal companies continue to ensure security of supply in municipalities and keep the cities running. In times of crisis it is particularly important that the broad range of services of general interest in Austria functions reliably and smoothly. Employees do an extraordinary job every day to ensure this and the important role of companies providing services of general interest cannot be overemphasised. Read more here (in German)
Contact: Michaela Kauer or stay up to date at @Stadt_Wien
Rotterdam – Keeping mass transit safe
Rotterdam is now allowing a 40% occupancy rate on its public transport, as of 1 June. To achieve this goal, and to help citizens on their journeys, the city, the public transport company RET, and four companies who offer bikes, electric-bikes or electric motor-scooters, are working together to offer a clean and seamless connection. At transport hubs, the city has made room for the four companies to park their bikes/motor-scooters for easy access. On RET’s app, travellers can check in real time what method of transport would be best to continue or start their journey. It is the first time that all of these players have worked together to offer such a service. More information (in Dutch) here.
Contact: Murat Altunbas
Rotterdam – Investing in the future
Rotterdam is investing €2.4 million in schoolchildren and €20 million in homeless services. The money for schoolchildren will help provide 6,000 children from disadvantaged families and areas with extra classes and courses this summer so that they don’t fall behind. The homeless services receiving investment include support for independent housing, chonselling, advice and providing better living conditions. This move follows the provision of 150 homeless shelters, with social distancing measures in place, since the beginning of the outbreak. More information (in Dutch) here.
Contact: Murat Altunbas
Madrid – schools and summer camps
With Municipal nursery schools will reopen their doors to students from 0 to 3 years old from July 1, Madrid is also looking to organise urban summer camps that will be operating from the second half of July. Read more here
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Berlin – Emergency centre for corona patients
A corona treatment centre with 800 beds has been established at the exhibition centre in Berlin. The idea is to relieve the city‘s hospitals so they can focus on treating critical Covid-19 cases. Patients not in need of intensive care may be transferred to the treatment centre. So far, the centre has not been needed. You can read more here
Contact: Johanna Eisenberg
Antwerp – adding 19 km of bicycle streets
The city of Antwerp will speed up the construction of 19 km of new bicycle streets to guarantee social distancing for cyclists and improve the flow of bicycle traffic this summer. Currently, Antwerp possessed about 4.5 km of bicycle streets, to be increased to 23.5 km after the summer. Read more here
Leicester – Transport Recovery Plan
Leicester has released a plan setting out how its transport system can best meet the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic and help the city’s economy to recover, as well as securing longer-term environmental benefits. The is centred around safety, sustainability and social equity, and can be read in full here.
Contact Leicester Transport
Madrid – Public transport gratitude
To celebrate world cycling day, Madrid has authorised the deployment of 4,800 free-standing shared electric bikes throughout its city, the use of which will help people get around while still respecting physical distancing guidelines. Read more (in Spanish) here.
Besides celebrating this move, Madrid has also taken a moment to pause and thank those operating public transport during the coronavirus crisis: 3,100 bus and train drivers who have been getting necessary workers around (more in Spanish here), and taxi drivers, who have given more than 135,000 free rides during the crisis (more in Spanish here).
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Sofia – Thank you to volunteers and donors
The mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, has acknowledged the help received from people and institutions during the corona lockdown. She mentions that a total of €211,000 has been donated in the form of food, medicine, protective masks and clothing, medical equipment and disinfectants. More than 140 people in Sofia have received warm food daily. Furthermore, 238 citizens joined as volunteers. You can read more on the mayor’s Facebook page (in Bulgarian)
Contact: Sevdalina Voynova
Dusseldorf – Study of children and corona
The University Hospital of Dusseldorf in cooperation with the Youth and the Health Department will conduct a clinical model study testing 5,000 children and childcare workers in June, when Kindergartens are reopened after the corona lockdown. The results of the voluntary tests shall inform the research concerning the dissimination of the coronavirus through children. It is the most extensive study of its kind in Germany. You can read more here (in German)
Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld
Braga – Cheaper bus tickets for the unemployed
Starting 1 June, public transport passes will become almost 50% cheaper for the unemployed in Braga, Portugal. The city had made it’s buses free of charge in April and May. With returning to normal operations after the corona lockdown, the passes with reduced fee will be introduced to support those in need. You can read more here
Contact: Nuno Gouveia
Leeds – Connecting ‘Communities of Interest’
In order to ensure that information and support in the corona crisis can reach the most marginalised and vulnerable people, the city of Leeds is working with a network of community-based organisations to support ‘Communities of Interest’: groups of people who share an identity, for example people with a learning disability, or those who share an experience, such as the homeless community. Since the amount of information and guidance can be overwhelming and confusing, partner organisations act as a ‘link’ to support the flow of information. You can read more here
Contact: Titus Carey
Athens – Pedestrianisation for physical distancing
Athens is banning cars from its historic centre for three months from mid-June to provide more space to pedestrians to physical distance. The measure, which could be further extended for another three months, is seen as a precursor to the project announced by the Athens Municipality, and approved last week by City Hall, foreseeing the creation of a large pedestrianized network unifying downtown areas of the Greek capital. More information here.
Contact: Dimitris Konstantopoulos
Madrid – Support for safe mobility
Madrid is curbing the return of cars to its streets by cutting traffic on several roads to allow children to play and exercise on the road on their bikes, scooters and rollerblades. More information (in Spanish) here.
The city has also opened a new car park reserved entirely for shared vehicles. More information (in Spanish) here.
The addition of 45km of new bus lanes is expected to further support residents who want to avail of public transport rather than turning to using cars. More information (in Spanish) here.
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Antwerp – Mobility for social distancing
Antwerp is taking measures to reduce the return of cars to the street and provide safe mobility options for locals, including by promoting safe walking and cycling and adding new features to its mobility map and route planner, as well as supporting companies to continue allowing employees to work from home. More information here.
Contact: Kris Van Berendoncks
Rome – Emergency cycling plan
Rome’s city council has approved the construction of 150 kilometers of temporary and permanent cycle routes on the city’s main streets and along other key routes to support social distancing as well as general health and wellbeing. More information here.
Contact: Tamara Lucarelli
Manchester – Support for social distancing
Manchester has committed to creating enhanced space for pedestrians and people on bikes across the city-region, to enable people to keep their distance for safe essential journeys and exercise during the coronavirus lockdown and through recovery. £5 million of funding has been made available through the Mayor’s Cycling and Walking Challenge Fund. More information here.
Contact: Grainne Bradley
Bordeaux – Emergency cycling plan
Bordeaux has developed an emergency cycling plan that responds to physical distancing requirements. The measures should help ensure that cycling infrastructure can accommodate any potential wave of new cyclists. NGOs working to promote cycling and cycling service operators have helped to develop it.
The city wants to entice people who would not normally cycle to do so, particularly those who regularly use public transport. The plan focuses on 100 priority zones within the metropolitan area that have a high potential for cycling but currently lack the appropriate infrastructure. In total, Bordeaux is building 78km of temporary bike lanes. More information here.
Contact: Marie-Elisabeth Sapin
Madrid – Recovery mobility plan
Madrid has developed a recovery plan for mobility that seeks to guarantee health and safety, provision of public services, and restoring confidence in the use of public transport. The recovery plan, which affects everything from buses and cable cars to cranes and parking is available (in Spanish) here.
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Dublin – Recovery mobility plan
Dublin has released a framework of mobility proposals together with the National Transport Authority, ‘Enabling the city to return to work’. This plan proposes measures such as more space for pedestrians, cyclists and where people are waiting for public transport, and possible additional parking in the periphery of the city core area. The plan is available to read in full here.
Contact: Grainne Kelly
Madrid – Buses ramping up service
Madrid’s municipal transport company increased its operational bus fleet to 90% of normal service at peak times in response to the first stage of deconfinement, which began on 25 May. The buses are running with a much lower capacity, having blocked off half of the available seats and capped the number of people who may travel standing. More information (in Spanish) here.
This move has come in combination with a new campaign to raise awareness about the needs of disabled people traveling on public transport. Learn about the campaign (in Spanish) here.
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Paris – Updated overview of deconfinement measures
Paris started to gradually ease confinement on 11 May. Doing so has involved a host of measures, from distributing face masks and increasing testing, to information campaigns, reopening of schools, introduction of new bike lanes, and support measures for businesses, cultural institutions, NGO’s and other organisations that are now opening up. These measures are evolving as the situation progresses – read a full updated overview of these measures in English here, or in French here.
Contact: Jean-Yves Camus
Guimarães – Disinfecting Kindergartens
Guimarães has begun the the disinfection of the kindergartens of the public preschool network, through a specialized company, with a view to reopening next Monday, 1 June. This process started last Monday and runs throughout this week, covering around 50 schools in the municipality, in all school groups.
The Ministries of Education and Social Security have issued guidelines for the reopening of kindergartens, which open doors for children aged three to five again. The document for kindergartens indicates that “under no circumstances can masks be put on children.” These personal protective equipment will only have to be worn by adults. More information (in Portuguese) here.
Contact: Adelina Pinto
EU budget and recovery – Reclaiming the future for cities
Cities were hit hardest by the corona pandemic – Dario Nardella, mayor of Florence and vice-president of Eurocities, declares a state of social and economic emergency for his city and many others across Europe. In an article published on Euractiv, he argues that cities are key for a sustainable recovery in Europe.
“Cities need direct and rapid access to national and European funding – otherwise we will collapse,” Dario Nardella writes in view of the new EU budget and post COVID-19 recovery fund presented today, Wednesday, by the European Commission. “In exchange, cities have a lot to offer. We can inspire national and European politics to build back better, to create a sustainable recovery.”
You can read the full article here
Madrid – Easy moving for people with disabilities
Madrid is running a campaign to raise awareness among public transport users about the importance of following daily gestures such as respecting seat priority for people with disabilities, people with reduced mobility, pregnant women or the elderly. These gestures will make mobility easier and more pleasant for these groups who are particularly impacted by deconfinement measures. Read more here (in Spanish)
Contact: Ana Buñuel
The Hague – Safely at school
The Hague is taking measures to ensure pupils can get to school safely by respecting physical distancing. Fifteen elementary schools introduced ‘School Streets’, closing the streets to traffic twice a day – coinciding with school opening and closing hours. Read more info here
Contact: Ronald Woudstra
Dusseldorf – Sport is back (cautiously)
‘Sports in park’, Dusseldorf’s free outdoor gym, has started again. After online only courses during the corona confinement, classes are held outside again since last week, applying to safety measures, like keeping physical distance. Passive sport lovers can enjoy the ‘Bundesliga’, Germany’s football premiere league which is running again, yet with empty stadiums. In order to ensure public safety, the city doesn’t allow outdoor TV streaming in certain areas where it could get crowded. You can read more here (in German).
Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld
Dusseldorf – Public offices open again
After having turned down working hours to a minimum during the pandemic, public offices in Dusseldorf are now open again with their usual working hours. In the past weeks, urgently needed documents were delivered via bike couriers. About 4,500 passports and other documents have been brought to the people free of charge that way. You can read more here (in German)
Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld
Cardiff – iPads for school kids
Cardiff Council is providing thousands of digital devices and broadband dongles via the Welsh Government’s Education Technology Project Fund to support children in Cardiff that have been unable to access online learning during school closures caused by COVID-19. The Council has worked closely with schools across the city to deliver the scheme which seeks to address the issue of digital deprivation. Over 5000 Chromebook or i-Pad devices repurposed from existing schools or purchased and 2500 broadband dongles will be provided. You can read more here
Contact: Beverley Watson
Milan – Chatbot for corona news
The citizens of Milan can now get the latest news related to COVID-19 via WhatsApp from the municipality, using a chatbot tool developed with Facebook Italia. It follows a similar model from the WHO and is the first testing in a EU city. The chatbot gives information citizens support services during the emergency, reopening activities, public services and worship places, allowed movements of people, traffic and parking, services for citizens with disabilities, how to contribute to the emergency management, health and sanitary measures and regulations.
Contact: Olimpia Vaccarino Aureli
Tbilisi – Overview of measures
The city of Tbilisi, Georgia, has compiled an overview of measures taken in the corona crisis, following the first confirmed case on 26 February: from the disinfection of public places to help for the elderly to support of local businesses. You can download the document here
Contact: Lika Davitadze
Guimarães – Public transport
The Municipality of Guimarães has taken on the charges for the provision of minimum services from the municipal network, with the companies Transurbanos de Guimarães, ARRIVA Portugal and Transdev Norte, considering the need to guarantee the assumption and continuity of an essential public passenger transport service, in the current emergency situation. More information (in Portuguese) here.
Contact Sofia Ferreira
Palermo – Boosting digital competence
The Innovation Service of the municipality of Palermo, in collaboration with other offices, created a ‘digital toolbox’ at the beginning of March 2020. This online space provides the tools, procedures and information necessary for the new style of working online, including:
- national legislation for smart working,
- the fast internal communications of the Google Group “Aquile Agili” (“smart eagle”, the eagle is the symbol of the municipality of Palermo),
- the procedures for drafting the Deliberation acts compliant with the national law concerning digital agenda (CAD: digital administration code),
- the management applications to work remotely at home,
- tutorials for using digital signature, to manage video meetings, to draft and share documents with colleagues on Google Drive, and more.
Vienna – Overview of measures for safe and inclusive recovery
Vienna has taken an approach of cautious exit and inclusive recovery as the country is slowly going back to ‘normal’. The updated overview highlights measures with regard to a smooth and safe running of city services, from childcare and schools to health and social services, support for the local economy and unemployed citizens and much more. It also contains a survey that shows that the city’s crisis management was positively received by the population. You can download the document here.
Contact: Michaela Kauer or stay up to date at @Stadt_Wien
Guimarães – Public transport
Guimarães assumed the charges for the provision of minimum services from the municipal network, with the companies Transurbanos de Guimarães, ARRIVA Portugal and Transdev Norte, considering the need to guarantee the continuity of an essential public passenger transport service in the current emergency situation.
More information (in Portuguese) here.
Contact: Sofia Ferreira
Budapest – Restart the city
Flexible start times at work and school, to avoid crowded busses and trams. Enhanced possibilities for cycling and walking in the city. Outdoor catering on closed roads for restaurants. – These are some of the proposals of Budapest’s mayor Gergely Karácsony for a gradual reopening of the city. According to him, the easing of the lockdown demands new thinking and deliberate decisions in many fields from both the national government and the municipality. You can download the document here
Contact: Adrienn Magyar
Milan – Pet care
Thanks to private donors (Mars Petcare and Royal Canin), the Municipality of Milan will distribute four tons of free meals for pets, home-delivered by AniCura, the network of clinics for pet healthcare. You can read more here (in Italian)
Contact: Olimpia Vaccarino Aureli
Istanbul – Bill on the hook
A campaign based on the system of ‘askida fatura’ or ‘suspended bill’ has raised over €2 million, which is enough to help more than 124,500 households pay their water and gas bills. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality matches people who cannot afford to pay their bills with those willing to cover the cost of these bills out of an act of solidarity in difficult times. Read more here
Contact: Raci Karaca
Terrassa – Expansion of pedestrian spaces
The City of terrassa has rearranged parts of its mobility infrastructure, to create more space for people to move around, as well as for other, greener, forms of transport. This includes an emergency bus, taxi and bike lane. Read more here
Contact: Joan Chicón Vallejo
Angers – Traffic wardens go shopping for the elderly
During the corona containment period, the communal centre for social action (CCAS) in Angers has been offering a home shopping service to help the most vulnerable people, such as the elderly or those with low incomes. The service is available for every household in need once or twice a week, and is carried out not only by social workers but also by traffic wardens. You can read more here (in French)
Contact: Bruno Gourdon
Izmir – Pay your neighbour’s water bill
People in Izmir who cannot pay their water bills due to economic problems resulting from the corona crisis can get help by others who anonymously pay for them. Following the example of Istanbul and Ankara, the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has implemented the system of ‘askida fatura’, ‘suspended bill’. That is the name of a Turkish tradition, practiced in bakeries: a customer buys one loaf of bread but pays for two, so someone in need can come in and eat later. Now this principle is used for water bills, via ‘BizIzmir’, the digital platform for municipal services.
Continue reading “Izmir – Pay your neighbour’s water bill”Toulouse – Safe metro
In order to secure the movements of people who use the metro for their essential journeys, and in particular for the medical staff, access to the metro will require a validation of a transport ticket. The metro will regain its access control through the validation of subscriptions and tickets, which will be downloaded free of charge in the case of subscriptions or reimbursed after use for other tickets. These tickets will be fully refunded at the end of the lockdown period.
Continue reading “Toulouse – Safe metro”Nice – Digital crisis management
The Nice Côte d´Azur Metropolis has developed new digital crisis management tools from which Microsoft will draw inspiration to help other communities for free. In order to deal with the COVID-19 epidemic and the dissemination of masks to the entire population, the Nice has developed digital logistics management tools. Microsoft has praised the quality of work of the engineers of the Metropolis and will use it as inspiration to provide services to other French communities.
Continue reading “Nice – Digital crisis management”Guimarães – Face to face service
Guimarães is operating face-to-face service by appointment, within the scope of the recently announced measures for exit and recovery from lockdown, as of today, 11 May. Meetings at the Balcão Único de Atendimento (BUA) at the Guimarães City Council can be scheduled through the municipality website, by phone, by email or on the mobile application “Guimarães CityFy”. More information (in Portuguese) here.
Contact: Carmo Martins
Beşiktaş – Digital management centre
Beşiktaş has centralised all its public health efforts in a single ‘Public Health Digital Management Centre’. The centre, set up to deal with COVID19, will remain after the outbreak to tackle further pandemics, disasters, earthquakes or any situation that threatens public health. The centre facilitates crisis communication, administration, data flows and inter-institutional coordination from a single point, and can be used to identify at-risk groups and areas. Beşiktaş’s mayor, Rıza Akpolat, has committed to personally man the centre, performing the coordination of all its units day and night.
Contact: foreignaffairs@besiktas.bel.tr
Florence – Park educators
Florence parks are again accessible to families, although in compliance with the still necessary safety standards. Thus, the city of Florence has started a family support project called ‘Pollicino.Zero’ providing educators and volunteers in eight city parks and gardens. The operators will be there to answer the parents’ possible questions and suggest them creative activities to be carried out with their children.
Contact: Alessandra Barbieri
Beşiktaş – Waste collection of masks and gloves
Dedicated bins for masks and gloves were placed at certain key points such as public institutions, markets and family health centres. The medical waste thrown into the waste bins will be duly disposed after they are properly collected.
The current protective equipment recommendations is also bringing along the problem of medical waste. Uncontrolled disposal of waste masks and gloves may increase the risk of citizens’ being infected. For this reason, Beşiktaş municipality started implementing a different practice for a proper waste management. Read more here (in Turkish)
Contact: foreignaffairs@besiktas.bel.tr
Reykjavik – Overview of measures
The city of Reykjavik, Iceland, has compiled a summary of measures taken in the coronavirus crisis. The document describes the different phases in response to the pandemic and how “aggressive testing, tracing and quarantining” has slowed the spreading of the virus. Iceland has introduced a tracing app which has been downloaded by one third of the population. Restrictions are eased since beginning of May. You can download the document here
Contact: Hilmar Hildar Magnúsarson
Glasgow – Digital health care
Glasgow residents are being offered a simpler way to find local health and support services online during the corona lockdown. A collaboration between NHS 24, Macmillan Cancer Support and the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland, the digital service will collate local quality-assured health and care services in one website, called Scotland’s Services Directory.
Continue reading “Glasgow – Digital health care”Milan – Keeping public transport safe and clean
The public transport company of Milan has set a security plan in accordance with the distancing measures ruled by the Italian Ministry of Health for phase 2 of the Covid-19 emergency. The transport fleet has been widened and every station and transport is constantly sanitized. The number of passengers is controlled, signal pathways help to keep physical distance. You can read more here (in Italian)
Contact: Olimpia Vaccarino Aureli
Budapest – Waiting for you
“Budapest awaits!” is the message of a music and dance video, aimed at city residents and tourists. The film, created by the Budapest Festival and Tourism Center, shows the formerly cheerful and lively, but now empty city, waiting to see life returning to the streets and public spaces.
Budapest has also compiled a summary of measures the city has taken in the corona crisis. You can download the document here
Contact: Adrienn Magyar
Katowice – Adapted fees for nurseries
The city will be paying the full amount of the subsidy for non-public nurseries, and asks of them to reduce to a minimum the fixed fees charged to parents. This measure will affect a total of 1,267 places in 31 non-public nurseries. Public nurseries will also be adapting their fees to support parents. Read more here (in Polish)
Contact: Judyta Etmanska
Izmir – Health first
In Izmir, all employees working in the health sector, pharmacists and pharmacy staff have free access to public transportation. In addition, four bus routes have been redirected to exclusively serve city hospitals. Trips and timetables of these routes are coordinated with the hospital to accommodate changes and updates in staff shifts. While conductors are separated from users, hand dispensers are available in the bus and at bus stops for passengers. Read more here
Contact: Ozan Sumerkan
Lamia – At home without pain
In collaboration with the university of Thessaly, the municipality of Lamia is aiming to relieve pressure on hospitals by working directly with other patients who need urgent care, namely those with chronic lung disease and chronic musculoskeletal pain. Read more here
Panagiotis Stasinos (pastasinos@gmail.com)
Nice – Back to school
The mayor of Nice is consulting with the directors of the 154 public schools, parents and parents’ representatives, and with a local scientific council. The consultation aims at finding how to best organise the gradual reopening of schools announced by the government. The city has also created a free tutoring app ‘Prof in the pocket’ to help its students. Read more here (in French)
Contact: Jérôme Sieurin
Vilnius – Books delivered to your home
Vilnius has been delivering library books directly to homes during quarantine. Residents of Vilnius ordered more than 300 books to be sent to their homes in the first five hours of the opening of the service. Librarians have to move quickly and to deliver orders to readers along the specifically created routes. Orders can be placed once a week. The service is especially popular among seniors.
More information here.
Contact: Jurga Pociūtė-Mikūtienė
Dusseldorf – Distributing hygiene-kits
Packages containing items such as face masks and sanitiser have been distributed at the city’s main public transport stations. Read more here
Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld
Budapest – Essential masks and testing
Starting from next week all passengers on Budapest’s public transport, as well as in shops, markets, shopping centres and taxis will be required to wear masks or scarfs. Under current plans as many as 85,000 will be handed out for free.
In addition the Municipality of Budapest will carry out 10,000 coronavirus tests, with the first carried out on staff and residents in social and nursing homes. Read more here and here
Contact: Adrienn Magyar
Izmir – Masks at metro stations
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has started placing ‘maskmatic’ machine in its busiest metro stations. Residents can access a pack of four masks, along with 100 millilitres of disinfectant, for free by using their Izmirim transportation card. Read more here
Lille – Web TV for city staff
Lille Metropole has launched a web TV for city employees in times of corona. The programme aims to foster social and professional cohesion and present the latest initiatives in response to the Covid-19 situation. This web TV is also an opportunity to give support and tips for workers confined at home, to share the daily life of staff still working in the city – and to give people something to smile about. The programme is posted weekly on YouTube. You can watch the latest edition here (in French)
Contact: Christophe Bolot
Florence – Civic crowdfunding
Florence has joined forces with local stakeholders and active citizenship to launch a crowdfunding initiative. Collected funds will help finance projects in areas such as welfare, education and culture. Four projects have already been selected through the platform. These have financed the purchase of medical equipment for a retirement home, a dedicated food delivery system for people in financial difficulty, and the purchase of tablets for students to guarantee access to online education. Read more here (in Italian)
Contact: Alessandra Barbieri
Espoo – Reallocation for food assistance
The City of Espoo has reassigned employees from places like libraries and early childhood education into efforts to distribute food. One part of the city’s refocused efforts in this area includes the provision of lunch packages distributed once a week to children currently studying at home. Read more here and here
Contact: Annika Forstén
Espoo – Tips for pre-primary school children
Espoo is making exciting ideas available to very young children to support their well-being. Families can access weekly activities and tips to be used on their own time. Educators will keep in touch with families with the digital tools at their disposal. Read more here
Contact: Annika Forstén
Nantes – Hydroalcoholic dispensers in trams
TAN, Nantes’ Public Transport Company, equipped 87 trams with 300 hydroalcoholic solution dispensers. Some dispensers are connected, so the cleaning provider is able to refill it as soon as necessary. Read more here (in French)
Contact: Nicolas Joffraud
London – Mobility measures
London, through its transport agency, Transport for London, has launched a suite of changes in its mobility services and policies, including: service levels, treatment of tenants, construction, customer season tickets and staff. Read about all of these in this document.
Contact: Ian Catlow
Florence – Digital solutions
Florence is using a digital approach to adjusting to the covid landscape.
The city has organised the following initiatives:
- Web Portal for the promotion of open and home delivery shops – www.lebotteghedifirenze.it – more than 500 shops registered since lockdown
- Asking for an economic contribution in tickets to buy food for people having businesses affected by the lockdown www.firenzebuonispesa.it – more than 5,000 inquiries in three days, more than €2 million in contributions offered to affected residents
- Use of 2100 public WiFi hotspots for monitoring presences in outdoor squares and parks during lockdown
- Use of traffic sensors for monitoring vehicles flow during lockdown
- Use of GIS data and open data to optimise house-by-house delivery to citizens of protective masks.
Contact: Alessandra Barbieri
Bologna – Activities for children
Bologna’s Institution for Education and Schools (IES) has been offering online educational resources to families with children aged 0-6, to help and keep them entertained, educated and exercised without leaving the house. Since 25 March, the platform has collected a growing list coming directly from the working groups of the municipal nursery and kindergarten, as well as from Children’s and Families’ Centres (Cbf’s): online suggestions and activities, indicatively divided by age groups (0-3 and 3-6) and for free access to all.
Continue reading “Bologna – Activities for children”Lille – Civic reserve
Lille Metropole has initiated a ‘Metropolitan Civic Reserve’ for its employees not involved dealing with the coronavirus. This plan allows metropolitan officials to carry out solidarity actions during their working time to share the burden of caregivers. These actions include food and emergency aid, childcare for caregivers or security personnel, contact with isolated vulnerable people and blood donation, in the strictest compliance with the rules on containment and health safety. To date, more than a hundred metropolitan officials have volunteered to the metropolitan civic reserve. Read more (in French) here.
Brest – Essentials of public transport
Brest metropolis has run a survey with hospital staff, nursing homes and other relevant workers to establish essential routes and timetables to guarantee public transport for these categories. This also resulted in creating a dedicated night bus service for the main sites of the Brest University Hospital. Read more here (in French)
Contact: Anne-Marie Cabon
Oulu – Online learning quality check
Oulu, in collaboration with OpenDigi, has compiled quality recommendations to follow when offering online education. The city agreed on a set of standards to guarantee quality and clarify the responsibilities of the various parties. It collects a series of rights that address equally students, guardians and educators. Read more here
Contact: Anne Rannali
Brest – Online urban planning
Brest metropolis supports building professionals by facilitating access to an online platform for any requests concerning planning authorisations. This free service will allow professionals in the sector to digitally address their planning applications. Read more here and here (in French)
Contact: Anne-Marie Cabon
Nicosia – Overview of measures
The city of Nicosia, Cyprus, has compiled a summary of the municipality’s measures in the corona crisis, from confinement regulations over ‘solidarity baskets’ for the elderly to creative activities for kids, painting their vision of ‘Nicosia 2030’ while at home. The document also provides contact names for further information. You can download it here
Contact: Charis Theocharous
Milan – No site left behind
The municipality has simplified public procurement procedures for companies working in the construction sectors and has approved fast payments for public construction sites, covering up to 50% of the tender specification expenses, thus economically supporting companies and workers. Read more here (in Italian)
Contact: Olimpia Vaccarino Aureli
Madrid – Spanish cities call for budget flexibility
The seven biggest cities in Spain are asking the national government for permission to spend more resources on economic and social measures. In a joint declaration, the cities call for amendments of the Stability Act to allow for accumulated carryovers from previous fiscal years without limitations. They also ask for a relaxation of the criteria for budgetary stabilisation and the spending rule to increase public spending. You can read more here (in Spanish)
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Cardiff – Rugby stadium becomes hospital
With help from Cardiff Council teams the Principality Stadium is being transformed into a temporary hospital with a capacity of 300 intensive care units that can be increased up to 2,000 if necessary. The new facility, the second largest created in the UK to tackle the crisis, will allow to free up capacity at other Cardiff hospital sites. You can read more here and here.
Contact: Beverley Watson
Viladecans – School at home
Both educational and fun – that is the ambition of the online platform ‘School at home’ from the Spanish city of Viladecans. Activities range from baking an Easter cake over math games to watching a short film and reflecting over the emotions represented in the movie. You can read more here
Contact: Alba Martínez García
Tirana – Overview of measures
The city of Tirana has compiled a summary of the city’s measures in the corona crisis. It covers measures to minimise the spread of the virus, manage its impact and provide relief for the most vulnerable. You can download the document here
Contact: Blerina Beshku
Nice – 25 tons of protective equipment from China
750,000 masks, gowns, overalls, gloves and floats for protection against infection with the corona virus have arrived in Nice. The equipment arrived in a cargo plane from China on Easter Monday. The 25 tons of medical equipment are destined for the Nice University Hospital and public services carrying out a priority mission. You can read more here (in French)
Contact: Jérôme Sieurin
Fuenlabrada – 370 smartphones for school kids
To allow pupils who lack mobile devices to follow online classes from school, the Spanish city of Fuenlabrada is giving out smartphones with internet connection to families in need. The first 70 phones have been distributed, up to 300 more will be given out. The aim of the measure is to prevent students in compulsory stages from being disconnected from the course due to a lack of technological resources. You can read more here (in Spanish)
Contact: Juan Carlos Hernández Navas
Genova – Overview of measures
The Italian city of Genova has compiled a summary of the city’s measures in response to the corona pandemic. The presentation describes a stepwise approach to care for people, jobs and services first, while preparing for reboot and resilient and sustainable growth after the crisis. You can download the document here
Contact: Corrado Ragucci
Vienna – Protection for tenants
Evictions are prohibited in the private rental market in Vienna in the corona crisis. Anyone who has difficulty paying the rent between April and June due to the impact of the corona restrictions can repay the arrears until December. Eviction executions are postponed for three months on request of the tenant, to get time to find new housing. In Vienna, already 14,000 citizens sought help at “wohnservice wien”, the city´s competence center for all issues related to housing.
Continue reading “Vienna – Protection for tenants”Zagreb – Free parking and more public transport
Zagreb has suspended parking charges for medical and technical staff of hospitals in the , as well as for citizens using their services, and for employees of state and local authorities of the Republic of Croatia who are engaged in combating the COVID-19 virus epidemic, alongside of hospital locations and surrounding streets.
After the Civil Protection Staff of the Republic of Croatia made the decision to suspend public urban transport, the City of Zagreb, through its public urban carrier ZET d.o.o. introduced 17 lines of emergency transport to transport persons from work and to work for those jobs that did not cease to be carried out during the epidemic. Shuttle service is free of charge. There are 62 buses in service.
Contact: international.relations@zagreb.hr
Cardiff – Universities offering vital equipment
Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University and the University of South Wales have donated protective equipment and equipment that will help with testing to healthcare services. University researchers are also involved in mapping the spread of the virus and looking at whether different strains are emerging. Results from psychology departments’ research on the impact of the epidemic on people is informing the healthcare response. Read more here
Contact: Ian Catlow
Fuenlabrada – Homework calls
In cooperation with Rey Juan Carlos University, Fuenlabrada’s students volunteer to help pupils from primary and secondary schools with their homework through Whatsapp and video calls. Read more here (in Spanish)
Contact: Juan Carlos Hernández Navas
Dusseldorf – Supports parents at home
Dusseldorf’s Youth Department has initiated a free online parenting program which helps parents who struggle to balance teleworking while also taking care of their children. Read more here (in German)
Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld
Istanbul – Feeding stray cats and dogs
The district municipality in Sultanbeyli, Istanbul, is feeding stray animals during the corona lockdown. While shops are closed, the local veterinary service units leave animal food at central places. In Istanbul, there are thought to be 130,000 dogs and 125,000 cats roaming free. Other measures of the municipality aim to prevent the spread of the virus in public places like bazaars and to support people in need.
Continue reading “Istanbul – Feeding stray cats and dogs”Dusseldorf – Priority badge for nurses
Health workers, bus drivers, volunteers for social services and others working in relevant functional areas in Dusseldorf can get free use of public transport and taxis as well as permission to buy bigger amounts of foods and goods than stated in the regulations against panic buying. The city is handing out badges to those people, based on registration via employers. Read more here (in German)
Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld
Cardiff – Pre-school support for families
The Cardiff based organisation Flying Start has gone online to continue delivering services to pre-school children and their parents. Appointments, group parenting as well as health and therapy services have all been moved online. While ‘Stay and Play’ sessions have been replaced by a range of fun activities to do with children shared on social media. Read more here
Contact: Beverley Watson
Budapest – Temporary bike lanes
The Municipality of Budapest is establishing temporary bicycle lanes on some important routes to provide residents with an alternative and safer way to work.
Many people are temporarily looking for modes of transportation where they could minimise contact with others. Due to this and the drastic reduction of the price of the local bike sharing scheme, the bicycle traffic in Budapest has increased. The decrease in overall traffic provides an opportunity to improve Budapest’s bicycle transport network with rapid intervention. Cycling is a suitable form of transport even during the pandemic. Read more here.
Contact: Adrienn Magyar
Stuttgart – Art for hope
Stuttgart is helping to keep its youth entertained and hopeful through art. An Easter painting competition for three age brackets below 14, and one over, is being held by the city. Read more (in German) here.
The city is also collecting rainbow pictures drawn by children, following the trend of children drawing rainbows and putting them up in their family windows by asking children to also draw rainbows for the windows of the Town Hall. Read more (in German) here.
Contact: Claudia Schulcz