All Ireland Smart Cities Forum Fourth Annual Conference – Building a Responsive and Resilient City in Post Crisis
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Reimagining the City – Transforming Tourism – Disrupting Mobility
Covid-19 has completely changed how organisations around the world, including local government, deliver their services. 2020 is being defined by the need for new service delivery models to be designed and rolled-out in a leaner and smarter way. In this evolving narrative, and the global recession that will certainly follow, hard decisions will have to be made on what services get prioritised. We are undoubtedly (re)imagining the future city.
Covid-19 has had a devasting impact on the high street, as a place of business and a vibrant public realm. High streets across the island have already experienced ‘casualties’; with some retail bodies predicting a 50% reduction in shops on a typical high street in the short-term. Tourism and travel behaviour have also been heavily impacted by Covid-19. In 2019, tourism on the island of Ireland employed 300,000 people and was worth more than €6 billion. The seasonality of the sector, together with challenges posed by on-going social distancing requirements, makes it unviable for many businesses to reopen in the near future – if at all.
The mobility landscape is changing rapidly in response to Covid-19, as cities experiment with solutions that balance public health and safety with accessibility, social equity and climate issues. Places increasingly need to be creative and inclusive as they reconsider the delivery model for transportation and mobility.
Across Government, departments such as ICT are now recognised as being critical to the effective functioning of society. This is particularly true of the support functions it plays in enabling remote working, and facilitating the dissemination of valuable communications to citizens. Across local government, all departments have shown an incredible agility and commitment in ensuring ongoing provision of services, and adapting places to provide communities and citizens with the spaces needed to ensure safety and well-being. Consideration must be now given to how we harness that network in building responsive and resilient places of the future.
This half-day conference will examine how cities/local government across the island of Ireland responded to the challenges of Covid-19; in terms of how service delivery had to adapt, the role digital played in supporting this adjustment, and how these experiences will assist cities, and local government, in building responsive and resilient cities post-crisis.
This 2.5hour event will run from 14.00 – 16.30; with participation free of charge. This half-day event will focus, in particular, on
Reimagining the City;
Transforming Tourism; and
Disrupting Mobility.
Video of the conference
Presentations
