Regional Studies Association (RSA) organized an online conference titled “Regions in Recovery Second Edition 2022: Re-imagining Regions.” Mehnaz Rabbani, Head, Operations & Strategic Engagement and Partnership, of BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) presented a working paper she co-authored with and Shamael Ahmed, Research Associate, BIGD in the special session, “Mitigating Covid-19 in Urban Asia: Insights from South and Southeast Asian Megacities on the Politics of Lockdowns.” Through a research-led celebration of regions, it explored how these regions can be re-imagined in times of challenges including COVID-19, climate change and geo-political turmoil. The session was chaired by Iderlina Mateo-Babiano, Associate Professor in Urban Planning and Assistant Dean, Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
This open special session invited empirical, methodological and policy analyses that address any of the following topics in the context of South and Southeast Asian megacities. Most cities in the South and Southeast Asia regions have experienced severe impacts of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Particularly, the large megacities in these two regions were most heavily affected. In response to this, various policy measures and pandemic recovery plans have been put in place at the state and metropolitan levels to tackle the pandemic. Evidence already indicates critical governance gaps in pandemic management, characterized by exclusionary politics of public health risk mitigation and ad-hoc policy responses that were unresponsive to work and welfare needs of the urban poor. For example, evidence suggests that in Dhaka city, ill-planned lockdowns pushed migrant workers out of the city resulting not only their loss of livelihoods and increased vulnerability but also led to further transmission of the virus from the city to smaller towns and even in the rural areas.
Critical examination of the effectiveness, impact, and gaps in terms of how well state and metropolitan level policy measures and pandemic recovery plans were (or were not) able to address the needs of the urban poor, especially the informal/migrant workers were one of the key area of focus. The presenters also deliberated on existing or contrasting links of policy lessons between the academia and the actual policymakers, critical lessons from bottom-up grassroots responses that can inform inclusive pandemic interventions and post-pandemic recovery strategies, and policy lessons and recommendations in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic that can contribute to building more inclusive and resilient cities in the South and Southeast Asia regions.
Regional Studies Association (RSA) organized an online conference titled “Regions in Recovery Second Edition 2022: Re-imagining Regions.” Mehnaz Rabbani, Head, Operations & Strategic Engagement and Partnership, of BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) presented a working paper she co-authored with and Shamael Ahmed, Research Associate, BIGD in the special session, “Mitigating Covid-19 in Urban Asia: Insights from South and Southeast Asian Megacities on the Politics of Lockdowns.” Through a research-led celebration of regions, it explored how these regions can be re-imagined in times of challenges including COVID-19, climate change and geo-political turmoil. The session was chaired by Iderlina Mateo-Babiano, Associate Professor in Urban Planning and Assistant Dean, Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
This open special session invited empirical, methodological and policy analyses that address any of the following topics in the context of South and Southeast Asian megacities. Most cities in the South and Southeast Asia regions have experienced severe impacts of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Particularly, the large megacities in these two regions were most heavily affected. In response to this, various policy measures and pandemic recovery plans have been put in place at the state and metropolitan levels to tackle the pandemic. Evidence already indicates critical governance gaps in pandemic management, characterized by exclusionary politics of public health risk mitigation and ad-hoc policy responses that were unresponsive to work and welfare needs of the urban poor. For example, evidence suggests that in Dhaka city, ill-planned lockdowns pushed migrant workers out of the city resulting not only their loss of livelihoods and increased vulnerability but also led to further transmission of the virus from the city to smaller towns and even in the rural areas.
Critical examination of the effectiveness, impact, and gaps in terms of how well state and metropolitan level policy measures and pandemic recovery plans were (or were not) able to address the needs of the urban poor, especially the informal/migrant workers were one of the key area of focus. The presenters also deliberated on existing or contrasting links of policy lessons between the academia and the actual policymakers, critical lessons from bottom-up grassroots responses that can inform inclusive pandemic interventions and post-pandemic recovery strategies, and policy lessons and recommendations in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic that can contribute to building more inclusive and resilient cities in the South and Southeast Asia regions.
