Smart Cities Harness Technology and People’s Participation in Fighting COVID-19

“No pain, no gain,” said Dr. Yi-Chun Lo, a medical doctor who serves as the Deputy Director-General at the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC), about Taiwan’s hard lessons 17 years ago during the SARS outbreak. And now that the world is facing another pandemic, are cities ready to face the challenge?

With the theme “Reimagining Smart Cities: Current Challenges and New Opportunities,” the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), in cooperation with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) Korea and Impact Hub Taiwan, organized a webinar last 30 October 2020, a day before the celebration of World Cities Day, as designated by the United Nations General Assembly.

The webinar, moderated by Atty. Jean de Castro, CEO of ESCA Inc., a global engineering company, convened local government leaders and Smart City experts from Taiwan, Indonesia, and the Philippines to present the lessons learned and best practices of cities in addressing the pandemic, in balancing safety measures and economic recovery, and in planning the next crucial steps for cities.

Francis “Blue” Abaya, CALD Secretary General and Member of Parliament from the Liberal Party of the Philippines, gave the welcome remarks. “This is a perfect opportunity to navigate what might be our new normal…to show us how smart cities can be achieved in these extraordinary times,” Abaya said.

Dr. Christian Taaks, Head of FNF Korea, shared the successful yet challenging experience of the Korean public and government to implement COVID-19 containment strategies and respect the privacy and trust of the citizens. He added that, “The utmost success will be based on mature democracy, rule of law, and the participation of the people. Only this will create the trust of citizens in responsible, people-oriented politics.”

Learning from SARS

In relation to the ongoing global pandemic, Dr. Lo said Taiwan is focusing more on public health approaches that also have significant impact on civil society’s daily life and human rights.

The lessons during the SARS outbreak in 2003 taught Taiwan to prepare, implement the crucial reforms, and seek the people’s participation in crafting solutions. The key to success in Taiwan, Dr. Lo explained, includes “preparedness, infrastructure, political commitment, innovation, and most importantly public trust.”

“Information System was strengthened to capture official and unofficial intelligence as quickly and early as possible.” Dr. Lo said that Taiwan also revised its laws to “enable a strong and a centralized command system in the case of public emergency.” In this manner, the central and local levels can work smoothly together, eliminating future miscommunication and conflicts in decision-making.

Taiwan also came up with smart solutions such as digital health insurance card that provides a gateway for IT-based mask purchase and pick-up rationing system, as well as a Digital Fence, which is a “police-linked digital tracking system used to monitor quarantine compliance.”

Moreover, what keeps Taiwan in unison in its initiatives is the constant encouragement of the public towards the frontline workers, removing altogether the stigma they experienced in 2003.

Regardless of the success they have achieved, Taiwan still would not let its guards down. “Complacency is our biggest enemy,” Dr. Lo underscored. There is a long way to go for Taiwan. “The struggle is always happening on a daily basis in our public health agencies.”

An Urban Transformation Journey Like No Other

Dr. Daeyeon Cho, Chief Director/Advisor of the Smart City National Strategic Program and the Smart Cities Special Committee of the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement (KAIA), shared South Korea’s urban transformation journey that brought about a 4^th industrial revolution level where information and communication technology work hand-in-hand with citizen engagement and public services to achieve better management systems and infrastructure.

He also presented Korea’s ubiquitous cities that have been targeted to pilot development transformation from one new city to another.

In Sejong City, for instance, the concept of AI-based city is creating a smart city based on “7 innovative factors” such as mobility, health care, education, energy, governance, culture, and job. One feature is artificial intelligence (AI) traffic flow data analysis that provide services that reduce commute time and costs.

While in Busan Eco-Delta City (EDC), with the aid of data and augmented reality, the city is developing a Korean Water-Specialized City. In this unique model, smart water management technology is optimized to achieve 100% energy self sufficiency by utilizing renewable source from hydro and solar energy.

Dr. Cho also highlighted not just the use of latest technology but also emphasized the purpose of resolving urban problems, pursuing sustainable growth, and promoting digital economic development. According to Dr. Cho, Korea focuses on uplifting the lives of the people and solving urbanization problems through better governance.

And as Korea showed success in tackling COVID-19, the country continues to tap on the synergy of the government and private sector in utilizing the Epidemic Investigation Support System (EISS) that features the Smart City Data Hub, which collects, processes and analyzes data to enable automation of epidemiological investigation process. This cuts the analysis of confirmed cases from 24 hours (via manual analysis) to less than 10 minutes (via automation analysis). Through this innovation, there is real-time exchange of information between and among sectors in society to generate faster response.

A Sense of Proactivity

“We are just a city with a population of less of less than 200,000, [but] our COVID-19 strategies have always been guided by a sense of proactivity,” said Hon. Ronnie T. Dadivas, Mayor of Roxas City, which is located in the Visayas and is known as the seafood capital of the Philippines.

Roxas City, the northern gateway to the Island of Panay, was not spared from the pandemic and has currently 460 COVID-19 cases, with 51 active and 381 recoveries. Mayor Dadivas shared three major principles they used as a response to COVID-19: prevention of transmission, adaptation, and management of active cases.

As a city slowly urbanizing into metropolitan living while preserving and promoting the “time-honored traditions and rich history and culture,” Roxas City is showing that innovation, public support and good governance can produce results.

The city government introduced a digital QR Code-based Contact Tracing System that streamlines contact tracing. This system is then supplemented by a contactless consultation and prescription system called “E-Consulta.” In addition to this, an ultraviolet sanitation equipment was developed locally to further prevent the spread of the virus.

Mayor Dadivas has also mustered the strength of the city by partnering with local communities, private hospitals, organizations, and private institutions to increase quarantine facilities and information awareness. And being part of “Galing Pook,” a network promoting innovation and excellence in local governance, the constant dialogue with other cities has been a vital source of practical ideas, effective strategies and innovative approaches to address the pandemic.

Policies have been passed to strictly implement minimum health standards. Satellite and mobile markets have also been set-up to decongest trade centers and guarantee safe access to goods and basic necessities.

Smart governance is prepared to address the impact of the pandemic, but it should not stop there, according to Mayor Dadivas. “Building a holistic response that will temper impacts and empower our people,” can provide more inclusive initiatives in the city.

“I am nothing without our constituents and my partners in government,” he added. “Ours may not be [a] success story just yet, but with proactivity and optimism fueled by faith and a strong sense of community, we are getting there.”

Village Competitiveness via Technology

Banyuwangi, located in the Eastern part of Java, Indonesia, had to face its own struggles even before the pandemic started. With the largest area in Java consisting of 24 sub-districts and 198 villages (kampung), Banyuwangi had a huge disparity in terms of economic growth, a high poverty rate, and low quality public service.

When Hon. Abdullah Azwar Anas, Regent of Banyuwangi, introduced Smart Kampung, an integrated e-governance system that accelerates public service at the local level with the use of technology, things got better.

Smart Kampung focuses on the improvement of connectivity, innovation and efficiency in 7 dimensions namely: public service via ICT, health service, education service, economic empowerment, poverty reduction, public information, and village budgeting.

Through ICT, Smart Kampung is able to bring public service and information from the center of government closer to the village.

The current internet network infrastructure built by Banyuwangi links together 175 fiber optic villages, 58 regional government units, 60 health services, and all 189 villages offices including 28 urban villages.

With a reliable smart communication system and management foundation in place, data collection for social safety has been integrated with Smart Kampung when the pandemic started. Isolation accommodations can be reserved online, newcomers (tourists, immigrants, visitors) can easily be monitored, media information and protocols also observed by religious leaders in churches and mosques, and temples, and citizen inquiry and application for aid and social assistance can be accessed through mobile phones.

Moroever, technology is also welcoming the new normal in Banyuwangi’s tourism industry – setting destination capacities online and issuing new normal certification for hotels and restaurants with strict safety measures and guidelines in place.

“For Banyuwangi, Smart Kampung is not only about technology but how to integrate the people so we can gather as one,” Regent Anas said.

Harnessing the power of technology and the people proved to be an effective measure, not just to prevent COVID-19, but to improve the economy and daily lives of the people.

Smart Opportunities

Cities are currently deploying smart technologies to immediately track the spread of COVID-19 and boost medical response and strategies. Smart cities can open doors for more efficient data collection, urban technologies, infrastructures, systems for business, education and governance, to continue to connect and bring people to work together.

Paolo Zamora, CALD Program Manager in charge of the CALD Smart City Project, said in his closing remarks, “This pandemic allows us to collaborate, to create new languages, and to communicate more effectively. It allows us to forge new cooperation to generate better ideas, more collective intelligence, and more effective digital transitions and transformations to guarantee the progress and sustainability of our cities.”

This webinar is part of CALD’s Smart City Project that aims to assess the smart status of the select local government units and present expert recommendations in planning for the next steps forward. CALD also officially launched its Smart Cities video during the event.

To view the CALD Smart City video, click here.

To view the presentations, click here.

To watch the full webinar, click this link: https://www.facebook.com/asianliberals/videos/1284606171916113