Newsletter «Zurich International»

For the first webinar of our webinar series, the City of Zurich was joined by a government representative from the City of Vienna (Eva Kail – Chief of Gender Equitable Urban Development and of Quality Control) and from the City of Milan (Piero Pelizzaro – Chief Resilience Officer). The leading question of the webinar series was: «How can we establish a new normality where the virus can be confined while social and economic activities can take place?». In this webinar, the focus lay on retail and wholesale, restaurants and bars, public spaces and public transport as well as home office and childcare. The three cities entered into a conversation what measures they have taken to allow normality to reflourish and where they stand in all the mentioned fields. The City of Zurich has received valuable inputs while we were able to give thought-provoking impulses to the other cities.

For the second webinar, Lee Orberson, the director of the compulsory school system in Stockholm had a conversation with Michael Anders, director of the school board of the City of Zurich. They gave answers to questions such as: «How can schools fulfill their mandate?», «How can a fair education for all be guaranteed, especially during the lockdown?» and «What skills must schools gain for a digitized future?». In Stockholm, primary schools remained open, but secondary schools closed. The idea was that older students are better able to adapt to changes in their education manner. Additionally, to reduce negative effects on children who have a school transfer ahead special attention to their needs has been paid. Overall, as the pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities, children most in need of educational support have suffered the most.

For the third webinar, Angelika Winkler, Project Manager in the Urban Development Department of the City of Vienna and Antoine Schnegg, Project Manager in the Office for Urban Development of the City of Zurich, reflected on how mobility patterns changed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the lessons learned. Both cities have experienced a drastic decrease of public transport commuters during lockdown. Since then, those numbers are almost back to normal. Whereas, private transport numbers have increased and currently stay at higher levels than before the lockdown. The key takeaway was that compact cities where you can get the most necessary things without using motorized transport are preferable. Hence, public spaces with sufficient space for non-motorized modes of transport should be provided as well as public spaces for recreational purposes in the nearby living environment.

For the fourth and last webinar, Michael Donaldson, Commissioner for Digital Innovation, e-Government and Good Governance in Barcelona, Werner Tomsik, Project Officer in the Process Management and ICT Strategy Group of the City of Vienna and Maximilian Stern, Smart City Project Manager of the City of Zurich came together to discuss the digitalization process that has taken place due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as its sustainability in their respective city. Thanks to the pandemic, digitalization has experienced a much needed boost. What became clear is that the more advanced a city is in its implementation the easier was an immediate and well targeted response. All city representatives agree that digitalization is a vital tool and needs to be fostered. Currently, a variety of projects are tested in every city.