Ideas for Developing Asia and the Pacific

Call for Policy Papers on Rethinking Cities for Resilience and Growth in the Post-COVID-19 World

Rethinking Cities for Resilience and Growth in the Post-COVID-19 World
Asian Development Bank Institute

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the world’s cities. The rapid spread of the virus has highlighted critical urbanization challenges such as a lack of basic medical facilities, limited governance capacity to ensure efficient use of resources, and limited settlement structures and public spaces to ensure social distance. It is prompting a paradigm shift in in urban development and a rethinking of the post-COVID-19 role and transformation of cities.

The Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) is seeking original, unpublished policy papers that examine how countries in Asia can address post-pandemic urban planning, governance institutions, and demographic and social dynamics in the post COVID-19 pandemic era to promote residents’ wellbeing. Policy papers focusing on Asia and the Pacific and with either quantitative and qualitative analyses are highly encouraged. Quantitative analysis examples include macro-economic data, micro-surveyed data, and spatiotemporal big data from satellites, mobile phones, google maps, social media, or drones. Qualitative analysis examples include questionnaire surveys, interviews, and on-site observations.

Selected policy papers will be featured during related ADBI workshops and considered for inclusion in a planned ADBI publication.

Policy paper topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Urban resilience, including redundancy, robustness, and adaptation issues after COVID-19
  • Urban economics, including production, consumption, and supply chains
  • Governance institutions and the application of big data for enhancing governance in urban areas
  • Social dynamics, with attention to human capital, social equity, inequality and, quality of life
  • Work facilities, working environments, ecosystem planning, and social distance
  • Urban demographics, including population aging, shrinking urban populations, and information and communications technology intervention

Submission Procedure

Abstracts of 250-300 words should be submitted via this link no later than 31 December 2021. Please include a brief accompanying bullet point description (no more than one page) of the paper methodology and evidence, as well as the title and name, affiliation, position, and email of each author. Submissions from citizens of ADB developing member countries are encouraged.

Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by 15 January 2022.

Authors of selected abstracts are requested to submit their full policy papers of 5,000-7,000 words by 4 March 2022. All papers must be clearly written in English and contain only original or review work which has not been published, nor is currently under review, by any other journals, conferences, or outlets, including working paper series.

All policy paper submissions must also comply with the Submission Guidelines for ADBI Publications.

Arrangements for Selected Papers

Authors of selected full policy papers will be invited to present their work during virtual training workshops in 2022, the dates for which will be announced later.

Selected full policy papers will also be considered for inclusion in the planned ADBI publication.

Project Organizing Committee

Contacts

Inquiries may be directed to Veronica Wee.

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