Twin city cooperation in times of Coronavirus

In Sunderland, UK, municipal leader Councillor Graeme Miller addressed the public via video message before Easter. He called on Sunderland’s citizens to keep up social distancing: “The sacrifice we are all making is genuinely the greatest possible demonstration of our love for our family […] and other people’s families who could be harmed if we do not maintain distance.”

Along with other twin cities, the Sunderland Symphony Orchestra has participated in the appeal of playing Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” on the occasion of Europe Day on May 9th:

In April, due to the curfew, the City of Tampere called on citizens to send in ideas to avoid loneliness and thus strengthen the sense of community. The inhabitants of Tampere were able to hand in their proposals online. The funding amounted to 100,000 euros.

Jaakko Stenhäll, the city’s Deputy Mayor, addressed Tampere’s twin cities via video message on May 9th, Europe Day:

At the beginning of the corona pandemic, Grenoble created a neighbourhood platform called “Grenoble Voisins Voisines”, where neighbours can support each other in daily activities, take care of people in need and exchange advice.

Moreover, several musicians from Grenoble also made a contribution to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”:

Grenoble’s Mayor, Eric Piolle, sent a video message to all of Grenoble’s twin cities.

Lord Mayor Thomas Kufen also recorded a video message for the citizens of Grenoble on the occasion of Europe Day.

In May, the City of Tel Aviv-Yafo published a report on all measures taken (see link list). There, too, employees rely on video calls and working from home. A Facebook page was created especially for the municipality, on which daily recorded video messages by the mayor are uploaded for the 10,000 colleagues. Additionally to that, the city with the highest number of start-up companies per inhabitant developed several apps that make it possible for citizens to get in touch with the City of Tel Aviv, as well as apps for volunteer work. Furthermore, the city organizes food banks, free online services and podcasts.

Due to the currently increasing numbers of Covid-19 infections in Israel, the country launched a traffic light programme in early September. The cities and regions are divided into red, orange, yellow and green zones. By doing so, the government wants to prevent gatherings and counteract the further spread of the virus. However, another lockdown could not be evaded.

Together with the Russian twin city of Nizhny Novgorod, initially events were planned in both cities on May 8th and 9th around the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. These had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, Essen has declared its solidarity with Nizhny Novgorod through a video message by Lord Mayor Kufen in which he commented on this historic event.

In addition to that, Nizhny Novgorod organised an international online flash mob for schoolchildren from the city and its twin cities in spring under the slogan “Pandemic life hack: positive about isolation”. They could send in short video clips, posters, drawings, or comics in English which showed how to deal with self-isolation in a creative way. All submissions are presented on the official social media pages on Facebook and Vkontakte (Russian platform).

One more time, Lord Mayor Thomas Kufen addressed Nizhny Novgorod’s citizens in a video message in late August in order to warmly congratulate the city on its 799th anniversary.

The cities support each other: Changzhou, for example, has donated 20,000 face masks to the City of Essen.

In Zabrze, the quarantined citizens receive food packages so that they do not have to leave their homes. Furthermore, specifically for the pandemic, the City of Zabrze has created a Covid-19 laboratory in the Silesian Medical Technology Park in April to be able to test more people. As well as Essen, the polish twin city opts for decentralized testing in order to prevent the further spread of the virus.

In addition to its seven twin cities, the City of Essen also maintains project-oriented city cooperation all over the world, for example with the Japanese City of Kōriyama in Fukushima prefecture. There too, musicians played together and recorded Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”.