Local governments in crisis mode

由于 自2019冠状病毒病爆发以来，德国各城市的公共行政部门数月来一直处于危机状态。危机模式意味着：它们通过采用专门为危机管理设计的特殊组织结构和程序来应对大流行病形势。然而，媒体一再指出，不同城市的行政方法不一致。这一点在与公众沟通的官方规则、条例和声明的多样性中变得显而易见。一个普遍的要求是在联邦一级采取统一的做法。与传统的危机管理组织（例如，警察、紧急医疗服务、消防队等）。KoViK以社会科学和安全工程相结合的跨学科方法回答了市政危机管理的多方面问题。该研究项目的总体目标有三个方面。第一，以新冠疫情为例，深入探讨市政危机管理和危机沟通的实践方法。第二，通过比较成熟的危机管理模式来反映这些方法。第三，为确定多元化方法对公众和其他利益相关者的影响，本项目采用混合方法设计：基于对官方行政文件和媒体报道内容分析的见解，对各市政当局的代表进行半结构化访谈。此外，还将对公众进行一次调查，以深入了解人们对市政危机管理和危机沟通的看法。最后，定性和定量数据将进行三角测量。KoViK的结果是城市危机管理的理论模型，支持后者更好地为未来的危机做好准备，根据经验收集和评估的数据，提供专业化和制度化的建议。中心议题是将危机管理工作人员的业务，包括与当地民众的危机沟通，纳入日常工作的技术、组织和社会层面，以避免由于缺乏知识和危机事件罕见而造成的过度需求。

Due to COVID-19, public administrations of municipalities in Germany are in crisis mode since many months. Crisis mode means here: They meet the pandemic situation by adopting special organizational structures and processes that are designed for crisis management. However, media repeatedly points to inconsistent administrative approaches across different municipalities. This becomes apparent in the diversity of official rules, regulations, and statements in communication with the public. A popular request is a uniform approach on the federal level.Crisis management and crisis communication by municipal administrations is an under-explored topic – compared to classic organizations of crisis management (e.g., police, emergency medical services, fire brigade, etc.). KoViK answers the multifaceted aspects of municipal crisis management with a promising interdisciplinary approach combining social science and safety engineering. The overall aim of the research project is threefold. First, by using the example of the COVID-19 crisis, to gain insights into practiced approaches of crisis management and crisis communication of municipal administrations. Second, to reflect these approaches by contrasting well-established crisis management modes. Third, to identify consequences of pluralistic approaches for the public and other stakeholders involved.The project uses a mixed-method design: Based on insights of content analyses regarding official administrative documents and media reports, semi-structured interviews will be conducted with representatives of various municipal administrations. Furthermore, a survey will address the public in order to gain insight into perceptions to municipal crisis management and crisis communications. Finally, qualitative and quantitative data will be triangulated.KoViK results in theoretical models for municipal crisis management that support the latter to better prepare for future crises by providing recommendations for professionalization and institutionalization, based on empirically collected and evaluated data. Central topics are the technical, organizational and social embedding of the crisis management staff operations, including crisis communication with the local population, into the daily work context in order to avoid excessive demands due to lack of knowledge and rarity of crisis events.