The ongoing COVID-19 crisis demands that we Southern countries and cities work together and learn from each other’s experiences. As emphasized by Ms Xiaojun Grace Wang, Deputy Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, despite devastating costs, COVID-19 may “spur urban leaders and city partners around the world to reflect, reset and reimagine the future”.
The Urban Planning Society of China (UPSC) has jointly published the first volume of its Human Settlements journal, with the Ministry of Housing and Urban‑Rural Development of China, UN Habitat, and UPSC. Entitled ‘Covid-19 and Healthy City’, this volume, presents nine articles that center on how cities can work to build resilience to withstand times of crisis and come out even stronger:
- Healthy City: Governance and Epidemic Prevention
- Just in Case: Reflections on COVID-19 Epidemic
- Making Cities Safer and More Resilient
- Against Epidemics: The Timing and Extent of Urban Spatial Management
- During the COVID-19 Outbreak How to Diagnose a City and Lawfully Enforce
- Anti-epidemic Measures: Anti-epidemic Hospitals and Their Role in Epidemic Prevention and Treatment
- Creating Healthy Human Settlements Through Reasonable Ventilation
- Building Healthy Cities Through Innovative Planning
- Working Together: A Way to Defeat COVID-19 in the World’s Cities
