แนวทางการทำงานของโครงการ Covid Relief Bangkok ผ่านกรอบแนวคิดห้องวิจัยเมืองที่มีชีวิต (Urban Living Lab) บทบาทหน้าที่ของแต่ละองค์กรจากหลายภาคส่วน ความยืดหยุ่นและว่องไวต่อการพัฒนา การใช้ข้อมูลร่วมกับความเข้าใจบริบทท้องที่ ความเป็นผู้นำและความโปร่งใสคือประเด็นสำคัญ
Urban Living Lab Model for COVID Relief Bangkok It has been a month now since Urban Studies Lab (USL) joined the global community in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic by instructing our team to work from home. At the same time, our COVID Relief Bangkok operation for the vulnerable communities has been picking up momentum and expanding. Many questions have been directed at us, especially on how we are managing a project that requires several contact points while ensuring the safety of all involved. There are many steps we and our partners are taking to aid others and many lessons to offer to the public while living through a pandemic in a city on lockdown. . Firstly, we have incorporated sanitation and safety procedures into all touchpoints in the relief process. Team members are following stringent rules put in place to ensure the wellbeing of everyone. Secondly, USL is working with vision-aligned partners. The consequences of COVID-19 are too overwhelming for any one entity to handle alone. As such, USL is putting the urban living lab model into practice to lead us to positive outcomes for all. Three founding organisations of Ford Resource and Engagement Center and Bangkok 1899, including USL, are synchronizing our unique skills and designated responsibilities to run the operation as one. Using lessons from our past collaborations, we have been able to quickly move from idea to execution with consensus and obtain results. . In the urban living lab model being used for COVID Relief Bangkok, every partner brings with them specific expertise to the table. Each contributes to the growing ecosystem of this initiative by offering critical insight and knowledge. This empowers us to be confident that our data-driven plans are bolstered by real-world perceptions and keeps us on the right track. The model provides everyone with a universal and systematic approach that is easy to plug-in and gets to the action. Scalability and replication become more straightforward. . The model helps define roles and responsibilities for each group: • Academia: urban analytic, strategic planning, facilitation and engagement with the government organizations and local communities • NGO: practical know-how, expertise in the supply logistics, insights to the needs of the vulnerable groups, networks with groups for volunteers • Private: crowdfunding, monetary & in-kind support, raising public awareness • Government: intermediary to the community, local-level data and knowledge, support for space and staff • User (service recipient): local connections, real demands, up-to-date data . One of the biggest advantages of the urban living lab model is its flexibility, which caters to our need for quick, real-time adaptions. The urban setting is dynamic and that is even more amplified in times of crises and uncertainty, such as the current pandemic. We must be ready to learn, grow, and pivot with promptness to adjust to changes within the many unique local environments. For example, when we complete a cycle of supply distribution, the user will provide us with feedback and live data. Our team then reprocesses new information, reflects, and re-adjusts operation processes into a more fitting and robust system. . There are two final key takeaways worth mentioning: effective leadership and transparency. Without these two, the project would not have been able to reach the current scale with so many partners from different sectors within the past month. Sakson of SATI foundation is our de facto leader and has been coordinating and communicating with all the partners tirelessly. In doing so, he has been able to steer the operation as a unit while enabling each partner to do their part with space and clarity. For transparency, the entire team is holding itself accountable for all donations and distributions. We have set up clear standards, accounting for the donated goods, impact assessment tools, and targets to achieve. All these are shared openly and reported to partners. Such openness encourages partners to understand each other and expectations, which leads to mistakes being caught and improvements being made expeditiously. . COVID Relief Bangkok will no doubt continue to bring to light more urban and societal challenges for USL and its partners to overcome. As we move forward together, our team will keep the public up to date with our progress, stories, and reflections.
