Improving Urban Resilience During COVID-19 Pandemic by Implementing Smart City Initiatives: A Case of Tangerang City, Indonesia

Many cities in Indonesia are prone to disasters, and the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic taught a lesson on how important for a city to be resilient to disaster. Previous studies indicated that smart city initiatives could improve a city’s resilience toward disasters. This paper sheds light on how implementing innovative initiatives can improve a city’s resilience toward disasters. We review the existing literature on smart city and resilient city concepts and conduct a focus group discussion with the representative of the local government of Tangerang city, Banten province of Indonesia, to understand how the city improves its resilience towards disaster by implementing smart city initiatives. The results indicate that city has developed various software applications and community engagement programs to break the chain of transmission. The results also suggest that city leadership and citizen engagement play an essential role in developing a smart and resilient city.