Analysing the COVID19 challenge in the context of a smart city considering the SDG’s: case study in New York City

ABSTRACT

New York City administration invest on strategies to become a smart city. On 2015 the Mayor announced the release of “One New York The Plan for a Strong and Just City” a comprehensive plan for a sustainable and resilient city. But at the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 disrupted its implementation. The negative impacts of the pandemic include public health impacts, housing and food insecurity, increase of unemployment rate and closure of small businesses, among others. Digital technologies played an important role during this period, as the city’s administration offered reliable information about the pandemic through applications and websites. Considering the importance of NYC for the economy of U.S., and the huge impact that COVID-19 pandemic had on the city, this paper is part of a research that explores a smart city approach (i. e. New York) during a pandemic scenario through an empiric perception, presenting an early analysis of the actions adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). A case study has been conducted, with the mapping of actions adopted by the New York City administration during the first wave of COVID 19 pandemic (March-June 2020). Results indicate a close relation among those actions and the basic SDG’s, signalling that a city to be smart must be sustainable. Conclusions indicate the necessity to review priorities on cities administration aiming the strengthening of a more resilient-inclusive society, particularly considering the challenges during and after a pandemic.