According to government data, around 98 percent of the 220,000 businesses in New York City are classified as small businesses. With the city shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is real concern that the subsequent economic downturn could result in as many as half of these small businesses failing — which means only half of the places residents depend on might not be here when the crisis is over. Bruce Katz, Drexel University professor and founder of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution and author of several books on the future of cities, describes what cities can do to help small businesses survive and thrive in a time of crisis.