Cities are on the frontline of managing the COVID-19 crisis. Many cities have quickly adapted their services in often innovative ways to respond to the emergency. As we are now moving past the emergency stage of this crisis, many cities are pro-actively setting out measures to mitigate the social and economic effects of the COVID-19 crisis on people, jobs, businesses, the local economy and they are also collaborating to urgently learn from each other’s responses and deal with the crisis in the most effective way.

But city leaders are also calling for European solidarity and strong collaboration between all levels of government to combat not only the short, but also long term, impacts of this emergency. With the right tools, city governments can further support people and local economies in the current crisis.