Lessons learned from urban crisis management system in COVID-19 pandemic using social network analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Crises of high uncertainty and complexity provoke discussion about new requirements of crisis management systems, which is of utmost importance in developing a cooperative environment and providing effective responses. This study aims to analyze the cooperative system of Tehran Municipality departments involved in crisis management of the COVID-19 pandemic, who are called actors afterward and thereby present the lessons learned through this pandemic. METHODS: Social network analysis has been applied in this research to analyze the collaboration system. Accordingly, the crisis management actions taken by Tehran Municipality are first explored and, 38 actors and 11 areas of knowledge are identified. The two-dimensional matrix of actors-actions and the cooperative system of the actors are then analyzed based on the degree and betweenness centrality indicators in UCINET and NetDraw software to investigate the position of the actors' tacit knowledge power in the cooperative network. FINDINGS: The actors' cooperative system generally has high density and coherence; however, it seems that the position of some actors must be strengthened within the structure of the crisis management in Tehran Municipality. The results of the degree centrality index identified 7 actors with higher degree centrality (20% of total actors) and 7 actors with lower degree centrality (20% of total actors). Moreover, the betweenness centrality of the network of actors is analyzed to find the highest and lowest betweenness power in the cooperative network. Afterward, a series of recommendations are proposed based on a designed systematic intervention. Moreover, a cooperative system of pandemic crisis management would be developed based on the key actors' experiences and the lessons learned from failures. CONCLUSION: Existing knowledge presents a valuable prospect for policy-makers in urban crisis management to establish an organizational cooperative system, capitalize on the insights gained, and contemplate pragmatic collective measures to enhance urban resilience in the face of pandemic crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Human Capital in Urban Management is the property of International Journal of Human Capital in Urban Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)