Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Ciudades Sostenibles

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Housing
    • Sustainable development
    • Urban heritage
    • Smart cities
    • Metropolitan governance
    • Urban economics
    • Urban society
    • Cities LAB
    • Cities Network
  • Spanish

Construction works and mobility during the pandemic: the case of Campo Grande

June 1, 2020 por Jason Anthony Hobbs Leave a Comment

Este artículo está también disponible en / This post is also available in: Spanish


Once countries lift the health emergency, what will the “new status quo” be like? And how should we prepare for a new normal? Cities must continue to provide their inhabitants with mechanisms that allow their well-being through the improvement of urban spaces. Long before the arrival of COVID-19, the city of Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil, was already rethinking new security strategies in times of crisis, which are being implemented today.

Considered the main street of urban activity in the municipality, on July 14th this part of the city underwent a transformation. From the traditional idea of a simple traffic roads to a more inclusive mobility space focused on pedestrians and cyclists rather than vehicles, through structural changes in the sidewalks width, accessibility and comfort.

Inspectores del Ayuntamiento que establecen distancia social (Divulgación / PMCG)
City Council inspectors establishing social distance (Disclosure / PMCG)

Adapting cities to the “new normal”

The slogan of COVID-19 in the world today is: Caution. In Campo Grande, even before the city registered cases of contagion, the municipality established a contingency plan to deal with the coronavirus under the recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO). As a result, the city is the capital with the lowest COVID-19 index in the country, with 15.63 infected people for each group of 100,000 inhabitants, as of the date of this publication. 05/21/2020 – Page of the Municipal Secretary of Public health. current statistics.

In addition to the previous measures that had been taken in the framework of this project, under the new health regulations due to the COVID-19, the implementation of security and health measures were reinforced. Today, the priority is the adaptation of public spaces and new alternatives in public transportation for the benefit of people and the prevention of new infections. The public highway in the city, is a space that is being adapted to guarantee the distance between its users, as an alternative place for shopping centers, galleries and even as a place of leisure.

The new idea of who ​​streets and roads in the city should be, corresponds to a more harmonious and integrated vision, where connectivity with existing bicycle lanes and adequate urban infrastructure for bicycles and rest areas are promoted. That is why Reviva Campo Grande Program, which covers an important space in the city, seeks to improve the quality of life for citizens.

Limpieza de la vía: Rua 14 de Julho en Campo Grande / MS (Comunicado de prensa / PMGC)
Street Cleaning: Rua 14 de Julho in Campo Grande / MS (Press release / PMGC)

In the next two years, the planned works are taking into account the effects of the pandemic, which generated significant changes in construction guidelines, some activities were suspended during the quarantine, but in late March, as civil construction activities were permitted, the constructions were resumed with only 20 workers under the rules that guarantee the health and safety of the workers.

Strategies for civil construction during the pandemic.

In Campo Grande, four strategies were adopted to give continuity to the rehabilitation of the city center:

  1. Biosafety protocols: Actions were established in line with the OMG recommendations to protect the safety of the workers and the community. The protocols addressed aspects related to the transportation of workers, food, accommodation and places designed for personal cleaning.
    Construcción de Reviva Campo Grande (Comunicado de prensa / Engepar)
    Construction site Reviva Campo Grande (Comunicado de prensa / Engepar)
  2. Construction team trainings: For the new protocols to take place, trainings were carried out to implement new work and coexistence habits, as well as awareness campaigns for the implementation of measures to protect individual and collective wellbeing. These activities are now permanent in nature and include educational conferences, posters with information on COVID-19 and prevention means, to minimize the risk of contagion for workers and / or their families.
  3. Personal hygiene practices: Based on health protocols, devices for hand washing with water, soap, alcohol, antibacterial gel were installed. Points or places for personal washing were also located in front of the construction sites. These practical guidelines were also applied to spaces by disinfecting before and after use, on the surfaces of cafeterias, machines, vehicles and bathrooms. Additionally, a minimum distance between workers was imposed to avoid contagion in cafeterias and public transportation. Finally, the use of individual face protection masks was regularized, as well as daily checks of the temperatures of the workers.
    Medidas de seguridad en la Construcción de Reviva Campo Grande (Comunicado de prensa / Engepar)
    Construction site and surroundings Reviva Campo Grande program (Press release / Engepar)
  4. Monitoring and support: The masks, equipment, facilities and hygiene supplies are considered for individual and collective protection, it’s appropriate and permanent use is monitored with the same rigor as the EPIs and EPs standards by the security team at the construction site and surrounding areas. Additionally, if any person presents symptoms related to COVID-19, they must immediately notify the medical service; people who are considered “at higher risk” remain under confinement. Regular monitoring of the health status of workers and their families is carried out to quickly identify possible cases of infection and to lift the isolation measures provided for by the regulations.

It is not easy to adapt to the new normality imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the field of civil construction, the key to success lies in the implementation of adequate processes for the protection of the health and safety of workers. Preventive measures then become small actions, and although they require additional investment in addition to safety measures and new health procedures that were already taken place, they are necessary to have positive results and make a difference in how we can live safely during the pandemic and the new status quo.

You can consult the Portuguese version of this article:  Obras e mobilidade em tempos de pandemia: o caso de Campo Grande at  IDEAÇAO Blog, published on 21/05/2020


Guest authors:

Fernanda Nascimento: Journalist, Image and Sound specialist at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS) and documentary filmmaker at the Image and Sound Museum. He has more than 20 years of experience in communication consulting, communication coordination, print and television media. As a communication consultant in the Reviva Campo Grande program, since 2018, together with the socio-environmental team. Within the scope of his work is the dissemination of actions related to Reviva, social mobilization, the press service and communication support for each stage of the work.

Juliana de Mendonça Casadei: Agronomist and journalist. Specialized in Environmental Planning and Management and a Master in Environmental Sanitation and Water Resources. He worked at the Municipal Secretariat for the Environment and Urban Development and at the Campo Grande Urban Planning Institute. Author of the book “Manual de Ética Profissional“. She is currently a Social and Environmental Consultant for the Reviva Campo Grande Program and a PhD student in Local Development.


Filed Under: Urban economics, Urban society Tagged With: construction works, Covid-19, higiene, infrastructure, mobility, pandemic, policy, sanitary measures, sanitation, security

Jason Anthony Hobbs

Jason Anthony Hobbs is an urban planner and operational specialist with over 17 years of experience working on issues of sustainable development in the Latin America and Caribbean Region. As a Housing and Urban Development Senior Specialist, he advises policy makers and city leaders on urban issues relating to infrastructure, mobility, rehabilitation, upgrading, regeneration and public spaces. He joined the IDB through the Young Professional Program (YPP). Prior to joining the IDB, he worked for the World Bank, non-profits and the public sector on the design and implementation of operations, monitoring and evaluation initiatives, and provision of technical and operational support for projects, country assistance strategies and policy dialogue. An advocate of placemaking and human-scale cities, he is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English. He holds a M.A. in Sustainable International Development from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

Description

Este es el blog de la División de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano (HUD) del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo. Súmate a la conversación sobre cómo mejorar la sostenibilidad y calidad de vida en ciudades de América Latina y el Caribe.

Search

Recent Posts

  • Financing Green Cities in Latin America and The Caribbean
  • How does the IDB Group support the development of women in cities?
  • Housing as Home: The Less Explored Side of Urban Development
  • Beyond the Urban/Rural Territorial Categories
  • Improving neighborhoods in Paraguay through social engagement strategies

¡Síguenos en nuestras redes!

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

Blog posts written by Bank employees:

Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


For blogs written by external parties:

For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



Privacy Policy

Derechos de autor © 2023 · Magazine Pro en Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

Aviso Legal

Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

facebook
twitter
youtube
This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
To learn more about cookies, click here
X
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT