Building Community Resilience for Future Epidemics

e ESSAY

COMMUNITY RESILIENCE DANIEL P. ALDRICH AND NORIO SIM Daniel Aldrich is Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, where he directs the Security and Resilience Studies Program. Norio Sim is a researcher at the Centre for Liveable Cities, focusing on urban resilience and climate change. Building Community Resilience for Future Epidemics

Leveraging on social networks, volunteers checked in on elderly residents in villages of Kenya to ensure they were well taken care of during the pandemic. Image: Denis Ngai from Pexels ESSAY

Beyond physical infrastructure and good decision-making, varied social ties and the collective actions and behaviours of people can build up a community’s resilience to future pandemics and other shock events.

As countries around the world These types of physical Social fortify their defences to deal with infrastructure—which include infrastructure the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, defences against tsunami, flooding what has emerged as a key success and disease—are the most visible captures the factor is the collective actions and means of reducing the damage 59 interpersonal behaviours of people. This essay from shocks. For example, if we discusses the importance of social are concerned that sea water will connections ties and connections for building regularly inundate a residential that tie people up reservoirs of resilience for area near the coast, engineers may future epidemics. plan and build a seawall to keep together. Societies the community dry. But while this require webs of type of infrastructure is obvious to Social Infrastructure construct and within the standard ties to operate and Shocks operating toolkit of many city successfully under designers, another type—social Cities face stressors and shocks— infrastructure—may play a more all circumstances. some with regularity, such as important role. climate change-enhanced extreme weather events including typhoons, Social infrastructure captures the hurricanes, and flooding. Other interpersonal connections that shocks come with less predictability, tie people together. Whether from such as the ongoing COVID-19 neighbour to neighbour, or a local pandemic which has claimed more business person to an elected than 1.3 million lives globally. leader, societies require webs of ties to operate successfully under all When we envision the ways that circumstances. These connections planners and decision makers come in different categories, can mitigate the impact of such depending on the types of people events, what first comes to mind that they connect. may be obvious defences such as walls, plexiglass shields, and other aspects of the built environment.

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The interplay between bonding, bridging and linking ties illustrates different forms of social capital. Image: Daniel Aldrich

Social Infrastructure: The Trio of Connections

Social scientists define the most they are often tied together by an common connections as bonding institution or interest. For example, social capital. This describes the when parents pick up their children connections between family and from school, they meet recent kin. Bonding social ties delineate immigrants, long-time residents, ties between people who are often people who look like them, and quite similar; they may share an people who do not. Similarly, a ethnicity, religion, or nationality. We workplace can be the location know that people often find it most where people make connections to comfortable to interact with people people from different backgrounds. who look, sound and think like These ties are less common but them. In some cities, communities bring an important diversity in have strong ethnic identities—such thought and information. as Chinatown or Koreatown in California cities. Other communities, The final type of connection is the such as those in Singapore, push vertical tie known as linking social residents away from bonding capital, and it brings together towards another type of connection: citizens with those in positions of bridging social capital. power and authority. It may be the connection between a kindergarten Bridging social capital details teacher and city mayor, or between ties between people who may not a local resident and the prime look, sound or think alike. Instead, minister. These connections are far

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Mothers of the BoTu neighbourhood in Rotterdam interacting with King Willem-Alexander and Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb. Image: Resilient City Network

more rare than bonding or bridging information, the ability to carry out While safe ties but can bring the possibility collective action, and mutual aid. distancing of a channel of resources and Extensive research on heat waves information that would otherwise in North American cities has found protocols not be available. For instance, the that simply being old—a category keep us physically SG Cares movement in Singapore many see as vulnerable—is not encourages communities to work a strong predictor of the worst separated, our together with social services and possible health outcomes, namely connections can government agencies to care for the death. Instead, individuals who are vulnerable in society, whether they elderly, isolated and without a social nevertheless bring are low-income citizens or those network are the most vulnerable. critical resources who have seen better times but now They are least likely to leave face difficulties. apartments to seek safer, cooler and assistance shelter elsewhere. This is where during this Resilient communities and societies social networks, through neighbours need deep reservoirs of all three and friends, can provide an elderly difficult time. types of social connections to be person dwelling alone with vital able to mitigate shocks, navigate information or physical assistance recovery, and return to a feeling should they be too ill to move. of normalcy afterwards. These Those without such ties face more ties are critical because they bring challenges in surviving a heat wave. with them important elements of everyday life and survival, including

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A number of communities around mobile phones and the internet, between residents and stakeholders the world have been able to remain along with more high-technology within the community is paramount resilient in the face of the pandemic, platforms such as Facebook to to building social trust. In Singapore, and we can glean important lessons organise in virtual space. reciprocity towards healthcare for the future of urban planning. The workers was showcased with the pandemic is an external stressor Through online birthday parties, MoCa Cares for Nurses initiative that is volatile, unpredictable, scaled anniversary dinners, and communal by the Moulmein-Cairnhill up and beyond any one country’s events, people are staying socially Constituency Office. They offered sphere of control. However, we connected even while physically free lunches and priority queues can build on the existing layers of distanced. In the United States, for healthcare workers as a symbol social resilience and achieve a new musicians have been performing of community support. These level of normalcy. in parks to physically distanced community-led efforts were all the crowds. Religious organisations more crucial during the COVID-19 COVID-19 paves the way for social have also been holding car-based pandemic for providing assistance, ties to build resilience in residents, services, with the leader standing on such as job support opportunities neighbourhoods, and cities. a platform and congregants in their for residents, and creating an While safe distancing protocols vehicles. These activities provide ecosystem for volunteerism and keep us physically separated, our the chance to renew relationships the community spirit to thrive. connections can nevertheless bring and strengthen our belief that we Beyond the COVID-19 responses, critical resources and assistance are not alone and others in society residents of the Moulmein-Cairnhill during this difficult time. Across face similar challenges. Such deep constituency have also formed the United States, for example, reservoirs of social ties allow us to a volunteer group to look into neighbours have organised to weather the physical and mental ways communities can partner deliver food, water, and supplies to challenges of this pandemic. government agencies to address 62 people unable or unwilling to leave local climate change issues. their homes. They have also used Understanding community assets paper notes to communicate with and the presence of institutional people who don’t have access to arrangements to facilitate social ties

In Los Angeles, volunteers and community organisations rallied to distribute food to people in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. Images: Joel Muniz on Unsplash

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Drive-in church services in Florida allowed people to continue religious observances with other members of the community. Image: SOPA Images Limited / Alamy Stock Photo

Former adviser of the Singapore Moulmein-Cairnhill constituency, Melvin Yong (centre), led the MoCa Cares for Nurses initiative to show support and care for healthcare workers. Image: Melvin Yong

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Even before shocks arrive, deeper information, residents could better them had the sense that they were reservoirs of social ties help accept advice from authorities and not going through it by themselves, communities engage positively see it as legitimate. and had a shoulder to lean on. with authorities and make decisions that reduce their vulnerability to Once shocks arrive, societies As COVID-19 reached Japan in the the event. Research using mobility have been able to draw on social spring of 2020, communities with data on more than a million North infrastructure to get through stronger linking ties—connections Americans living in low-lying, calamities. For example, after to decision makers and government coastal areas revealed that while Japan’s triple disasters—a 9.0 agencies—were able to reduce the majority moved from high- magnitude earthquake, tsunami the likelihood of infections; that risk flood areas to areas further waves above 30 m, and nuclear is, where local citizens trusted inland before the arrival of major meltdowns at Fukushima—people the information from government, hurricanes, many did not leave living in the Tohoku region faced believed in the science advocated despite warnings from authorities. a number of different challenges. by medical experts, and were willing This included the deaths of loved to undertake collective action. A strong predictor of whether ones, loss of possessions, and COVID-19 infection rates could residents would leave vulnerable well as anxiety and fear resulting be slowed tremendously when cities before hurricanes arrived was from the atomic accident. Through communities took on physical the degree of bridging and linking rigorous research, it emerged that distancing, mask wearing, and ties within the community. Where the most important factor in fighting remote working, limiting their daily people had more of these ties, they post-traumatic stress disorder and mobility and reducing their chances were more likely to leave potential anxiety was bonding social ties. of exposure. danger zones and find safe shelter People with stronger connections to elsewhere. With multiple sources of neighbours and people living near 64

Citizens in Tokyo followed regulations of mask wearing, temperature taking and social distancing. Image: Kyodo News

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Civic stewardship groups in Singapore provide opportunities for citizens to beautify the environment while fostering strong community bonds and a sense of ownership. Image: National Parks Board

Takeaways for Community Resilience 65 Given the importance of social they are at least maintaining, if not When building infrastructure in responding to increasing, social infrastructure. new policies and shocks and during epidemiological Many decisions about zoning, crises like COVID-19, urban leaders new construction, and even programmes, and city managers can learn many education can fracture existing designers and lessons. First, social infrastructure— ties. When building new policies like its physical counterpart—can and programmes, designers and city planners be built and strengthened; that is, city planners must think about the must think about our stores of trust, interactions, and potential consequences for bonding, reciprocity are not set in stone. bridging and linking ties. Singapore, the potential for example, deliberately invests in consequences for The Ibasho programme, initiated bridging ties by creating housing in Japan, the Philippines, and patterns which bring together bonding, bridging Nepal to build social connections people from different nations and linking ties. among elderly displaced by shocks, and cultures. has shown that even among the elderly—many of whom are typically Decision makers and leaders should less likely to build new networks— also make a concerted effort to social ties can be created and invest and maintain horizontal and widened. Through the programme, vertical connections between and people strengthen their social ties, to residents. While we may take increase their sense of efficacy, and social infrastructure for granted, deepen their ties to the community. and physical infrastructure may be a more obvious and standard way to In particular, cities should review protect societies, social ties remain their investments in mitigation key to building and maintaining and adaptation, and ensure that resilience in communities.

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