IGU Commission on Geography of Governance: December 2020

Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers

7-11 April 2021, Seattle WA, USA

Call for papers

AAG Annual Conference 2021, Seattle, WA, USA, 7-11 April 2021

SESSION TITLE

Local Governance and the COVID-19 Pandemic: impacts, challenges, responses

ORGANIZER & CHAIR

Carlos Nunes Silva (University of Lisbon, Portugal)

DESCRIPTION

The International Geographical Union Commission on Geography of Governance aims to advance knowledge of the geography of territorial governance, at the urban, local and regional levels, namely the conditions, scale and characteristics of new modes of territorial governance, in particular those that will emerge as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, and its social, cultural, political, economic and environmental consequences.

The session 'Local Governance and the COVID-19 Pandemic: impacts, challenges, responses' aims to examine and discuss the impact of the pandemic on central-local government relations and on local government policies, on public services, housing, social services, mobility, and spatial planning. It will discuss the actions taken by local government towards the COVID-19 pandemic, and its outcomes and impacts, during the first and second waves of the pandemic, as well as lessons for the future.

We invite abstracts that concern various aspects of the role of local government during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts, as well abstracts focused on the ongoing changes in local governance systems in this context, namely changes associated with the use new digital technologies. We welcome abstracts of those engaged in the activities of the IGU Commission on Geography of Governance, as well as from anyone with a relevant contribution in this field.

We are interested to discuss:

- What strategies, plans, policy measures, and actions have been adopted by local government to control and shape the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic locally and what has been its impact on the effects of the pandemic?

- What strategies, plans, policy measures, and actions have been adopted by local government to tackle the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health, on society and on the local economy?

- What strategies, plans, policy measures, and actions are local government employing to distribute resources and care among local populations, what cooperation with local community action networks and citizen initiatives during the pandemic?

- What changes have been introduced in central-local relations (decentralization / re-centralization), what innovations in multi-level governance have been tried to tackle more effectively the COVID-19 pandemic, what has been the role of inter-municipal cooperation and metropolitan government in this context, and what is being done through cross-border municipal and regional cooperation during the pandemic?

- What has been the role of technologies in local mobility, on remote work and education, and on surveillance through tracking and tracing the COVID-19 in urban areas?

- What local government strategies, policy measures, planning scenarios, and actions are being designed for the post COVID-19 crisis, namely towards building resilient, smart communities?

This session is associated with the Action Plan developed by the IGU Commission on Geography of Governance - 'IGU-CGoG COVID-19 Action Plan' (for more information, see the commission website: https://sites.google.com/view/igucgog-covid19/home).

Deadline for abstract submission: 19 November 2020

For additional information on this session, please contact:

Carlos Nunes Silva, University of Lisbon, Portugal

E-mail: cs@campus.ul.pt

Session links:

Session I - https://aag.secure-abstracts.com/AAG%20Annual%20Meeting%202021/sessions-gallery/27624

Session II - https://aag.secure-abstracts.com/AAG%20Annual%20Meeting%202021/sessions-gallery/27396

Session III - https://aag.secure-abstracts.com/AAG%20Annual%20Meeting%202021/sessions-gallery/27416

Session IV - https://aag.secure-abstracts.com/AAG%20Annual%20Meeting%202021/sessions-gallery/27503

Session V - https://aag.secure-abstracts.com/AAG%20Annual%20Meeting%202021/sessions-gallery/27505

Session VI - https://aag.secure-abstracts.com/AAG%20Annual%20Meeting%202021/sessions-gallery/27112

Registration and abstract submission: https://www2.aag.org/aagannualmeeting/