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Cities are on the front lines of COVID-19

Building urban resilience in the face of COVID-19

Implications of COVID-19 for the Environment and Sustainability
Ten Thoughts on the Future of Practice
Ten Thoughts on the Future of Practice

Urban planning crucial for better public health in cities
Integrating health in urban and territorial planning

Public health experts should be at the urban design table: Consultant

Cities are at centre of coronavirus pandemic – understanding this can help build a sustainable, equal future

The Future of Cities

An urban planner mapped every NYC street, showing it's 'extremely difficult' to maintain social distance

COVID-19 Could Force City Planners To Rethink Their Priorities

Urban densities and the Covid-19 pandemic: Upending the sustainability myth of global megacities

Disease and urban densities

India and other countries must therefore do everything possible to tackle the increasingly unmanageable population densities of their urban agglomerations. Urban planning will have to factor in realistic estimates of population growth and demographics to arrive at a “critical mass” against which cities will have to ensure provision of public amenities and services. They may also study some of China’s interventions to deal with ‘Chengshi Bing’ (literally meaning ‘big city disease’) that have successfully led to population decline in Beijing and Shanghai, two of its densest cities. The task is not easy, but the next, more severe biological disaster may be just around the corner. It will be unwise and indeed perilous to allow nature to play the balancing act.

Architects and built environment professionals from around the world on COVID-19 and sustainability

“The authorities must now give priority to the inclusion of informal settlements. It’s high time for investment and innovation, because in overpopulated slum communities, for example, social distancing simply doesn’t work.” – Indian architect Avneesh Tiwari.

Coronavirus has exposed the fragility of auto-centric cities

Reclaiming the future for cities after COVID-19

Third, urban mobility will undergo a series of corrections. For one, public buses, trains and ferries may come back more aggressively than before.

How? What happens to social distancing?

Safer, more sustainable transport in a post-Covid-19 world

Milan to retrofit 22 miles of urban streets for post-COVID pedestrian use
How the COVID-19 crisis inspired this major Italian city to transform its polluted streets – for good
Milan announces ambitious scheme to reduce car use after lockdown

Milan is to introduce one of Europe’s most ambitious schemes reallocating street space from cars to cycling and walking, in response to the coronavirus crisis.

Good if there is protection measures against sun, rain and snow depending upon climate zone/season.

Coronavirus: Urban planners across Europe reclaim the streets from cars during lockdown
'Cleaner and greener': Covid-19 prompts world's cities to free public space of cars

Paris Has a Plan to Keep Cars Out After Lockdown

“I say in all firmness that it is out of the question that we allow ourselves to be invaded by cars, and by pollution,” she said. “It will make the health crisis worse. Pollution is already in itself a health crisis and a danger — and pollution joined up with coronavirus is a particularly dangerous cocktail. So it’s out of the question to think that arriving in the heart of the city by car is any sort of solution, when it could actually aggravate the situation.”

Paris Plans to Maintain Anti-Pollution and Anti-Congestion Measures post Covid-19 Lockdown

COVID-19: Innovative! Copenhagen’s ‘floating islands’ set to create recreational space for public parks

Barcelona lays out plan to support recovery of mobility after lockdown

Leicester: City’s COVID-19 Transport Recovery Plan published

Can Indian cities adopt walk-to-work, cycling easily?

How the coronavirus is already reshaping the design of parks and streets in New South Wales

Coronavirus outbreak: Montreal expands city's urban planning for pedestrians, cyclists amid pandemic

City of Vancouver seeking to fast track housing projects due to coronavirus impact

Sydney: More cycleways, streets to shut, footpaths widened under NSW's COVID-19 plan

Urban farms to traffic bans: Cities prep for post-coronavirus future

Cities will aim to become more self-reliant and resilient, with a focus on transport, energy and food security, he added.

Now, authorities from Bogota to Philadelphia are looking at mobility, adding more bicycle lanes and barring traffic from some streets so more people can walk safely during lockdowns - measures planners say will be long lasting.

In Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo is aiming for the “quarter-hour city”, where most daily needs are within a 15-minute walk, bike ride or public transport commute, to reduce congestion and pollution, and improve quality of life.

Urban farming is an under-exploited “low hanging fruit”, with many potential benefits including more livelihoods and improved household nutrition of the urban poor, said Paul Teng, dean of the National Institute of Education in Singapore.

Greener and cleaner: Reimagining our cities in the wake of COVID-19[/B]

After COVID-19, Urban Planning Will Never Be The Same

City leaders aim to shape green recovery from coronavirus crisis

Blue-sky thinking: how cities can keep air clean after coronavirus

Bikes starting to push cars out of cities thanks to COVID-19

France’s plan to push pedal power to keep post-pandemic pollution levels low

World Bank, Maldives sign $16.5m project to support resilient urban development

How Will Americans Commute After Lockdowns End?

3 Ways China’s Transport Sector Is Working to Recover from COVID-19 Lockdowns

1. Repositioning Public Transport with New Health Standards, Contact Tracing

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Some municipal bus operators, like in Beijing and Shenzhen, are also encouraging people to use traceable payment methods like WeChat, Alipay or transit smart cards, instead of cash. These payment methods not only cut down on exposure risks, but also help local authorities trace possible contacts and quickly inform passengers and relevant communities if a passenger is diagnosed with COVID-19. Shanghai has put QR codes in its buses and is encouraging passengers to scan and register their contact information.

Chinese cities have also adopted data-driven tracking and scheduling systems that may fundamentally change the future of transit operations. In Suzhou, the pilot city of WRI’s Transit Metropolis Project, a smart transit platform analyzes crowd distribution inside buses in near-real time and identifies the volume of passengers in each vehicle through smart transit cards. The system proved helpful during the COVID-19 outbreak, when the vehicle occupancy information was made available to the public to allow the staggering of travel time and is now helping the city monitor a slow return to normal.

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2. Reviving Bike Sharing as a Reliable, Low-Carbon Mobility Mode

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Local municipalities and companies have encouraged this trend and taken steps to ensure bike sharing’s accessibility and safety. Meituan took the initiative to disinfect all bikes on the street in the cities they operate regardless of the brand, and other companies have followed. Meanwhile, city regulators such as the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport have banned bike-sharing companies from increasing prices during the pandemic.

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3. Smarter Urban Freight

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Besides changes in freight operations, the pandemic may also lead to changes in freight vehicles. To tackle issues with road closures and exposure risks, contact-less, last-mile deliveries have been prototyped using autonomous, electric delivery robots. For example, Jingdong Logistics, a package delivery firm, performed last-mileage delivery to a hospital in Wuhan using autonomous robots. Although widespread adoption still requires substantial legislative and regulatory enablers, this potentially low-emission solution could be a glimpse into the future.

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Covid-19: How South Korea turned an urban planning system into a virus tracking database

A functional city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic

How cities can manage travel demands in post-COVID-19 societies

Urban Mobility Redesign and Rethinking During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Coronavirus inspires cities to push climate-friendly mobility

COVID-19 prompts rethinking of urban mobility and city planning

Physical exercises also help to develop immune systems. Non-motorized transport runs on 0 energy emissions as the cleanest form of transport. So, it helps in reducing transport sector emissions along with ensures safe mobility in case of future pandemics.

How has COVID-19 impacted 2020’s mobility trends?

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2. MaaS is multimodal

The second prediction is that traffic management will be recognised as a significant portion of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). It is expected that Traffic Management 2.0 (TM 2.0) and Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) will be integrated into MaaS in 2020. The potential impact of COVID-19 on this prediction is minimal because including data from traffic management and operations should not be affected by a pandemic even though mobility choices certainly will be affected.

3. Public autonomous transport

The third prediction is that autonomous vehicles (AVs) will actually be put into public transport service, rather than being operated just in pilots and trials.

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How remote work and COVID-19 will impact city planning: Jennifer Keesmaat Q&A

Opinion: Redesigning The COVID-19 City

Don’t blame dense cities for the spread of coronavirus

Is your neighborhood raising your coronavirus risk? Redlining decades ago set communities up for greater danger

As coronavirus forces us to keep our distance, city density matters less than internal density

High internal densities linked to spread

So what kind of density is relevant for the spread of coronavirus? It has become increasingly clear COVID-19 is mainly transmitted through extended close contact, particularly in enclosed spaces, where droplets and aerosols accumulate. The density that matters is internal population density – generally measured as square metres per person.

Thus, high-risk places can include dormitories, open-plan offices, churches, hospitals, public transport, planes and cruise ships. The evidence to date points to much less transmission through casual contacts in outdoor spaces such as streets or parks.

Internal densities are geared to wealth. This means some people live and work under conditions where they can adapt to this virus and some do not. If we look at the densities in New York, for example, we find COVID-19 cases so far do not correlate with the density of Manhattan. Instead, cases are concentrated in the outer suburban areas of Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and The Bronx.

What we need to do is design a more equitable city without the internal densities that have proven so deadly.

Is the City Itself the Problem?

The dense urban environment can also be an asset in fighting disasters like Covid-19. Density means cities can more easily concentrate resources and social services where needed. Residents, in theory, have quicker access to hospitals and health care. And when nurtured by “social infrastructure” — community centers, libraries, and yes, public parks — cities can generate lifesaving networks of social ties which combat isolation and mitigate the effects of disasters.

Covid-19 will likely speed up shift to decentralise CBD, experts say

Coronavirus is dark side of an urban interconnected world: Kemp

Great cities have often been able to achieve much higher levels of economic output per capita, and hence income and wealth, than smaller secondary cities and rural areas. Their exceptional productivity and incomes is what has made them attractive to migrants, nationally and internationally, but they have always been unhealthy places.

The myth of great cities had been broken a long back - Real performing India is not on radar: Economist S Gurumurthy 17:10.

COVID-19: The need is to decentralise how we manage wastewater
In Ethiopia, Keeping Water Flowing During the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Response

'Idiocy of our current urban systems': Inequality, not high-density cities, to blame for COVID-19's spread

As far as India is concerned, inequality can be tackled more economically in Tier-II/III cities than tier-I cities. So, let us create jobs and ask migrant to move to those cities.

Urban density and disease: U of T historian on whether COVID-19 will influence city planning

Urban slums are uniquely vulnerable to COVID-19: Here's how to help

Simply staying home is rarely an option for them, as it often means giving up work and even basic necessities like food, water and sanitation.

Is Your Neighborhood Raising Your Coronavirus Risk?

COVID-19: How past crises are helping the world's cities to respond and rebuild

Coronavirus can help us to reclaim our streets

A Closer Look at the Post-COVID-19 Office Landscape

COVID-19 has affected SDG and townships planning applications
COVID-19 Intensifies the Urgency to Expand Sustainable Energy Solutions Worldwide

How should L.A. be redesigned for coronavirus? Are doorknobs out? We asked the experts

Cities And COVID-19: Preparing For Pandemics – Analysis

The Post-Pandemic Style

Although the situation is still unfolding, already the COVID-19 pandemic is begetting new design theories. According to Architectural Digest, many designers and architects anticipate the broad implementation of automated touchless technologies—such as voice-activated elevators, hands-free light switches, and cellphone-controlled hotel room entry—in public spaces to mitigate against contagion. As the sanatorium inspired modernist buildings, so too might construction elements from 21st century health care be appropriated for public space, such as ventilation systems to remove contaminated air. Like the modernists who rejected ornament in service of hygiene, contemporary designers are likely to utilize anti-bacterial materials in forms that can be easily sanitized.

Speculating on the impact of social distancing on urban design, some suggest that architects may design smaller venues and more open spaces to alleviate density. By increasing the number of security lanes and automating check-in procedures, redesigned airports could reduce congestion and ease passenger flow. Depending on how productive remote work proves to be in this pandemic, virtual space may also hasten the decline of open offices. Already, co-working disrupter WeWork appears to be pivoting from shared desks to “buffer seating”—that is, the cubicle. Rather than a provisional fix, social distancing could become a design paradigm.

Office space should be flexible enough to address both as per conditions - social distancing during biocrisis and shared desks otherwise. Even airport, railway station etc designs should be flexible to address both conditions. Question is cost for flexibility.

City planning in the post-Covid-19 era will be very different

Architects and planners need to rethink shared spaces, public or private, to make them controllable, manageable and able to be immediately re-purposed in an emergency.

Re-purposability or adaptability or flexibility or 'biocrisis resilience' is what needed. Other option is to continue working from home (assuming issues like security are addressed) and attend office only for meetings.

Balconies, bicycles and belonging: the future of communities after Covid-19

Coronavirus will change Pittsburgh, but how? Here are 26 local leaders' predictions for what's to come.

The Coronavirus and the future of Main Street

Post-Covid 19 development must be bold and inclusive

Third, there’s nothing that creates equity more than good, safe housing.

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Finally, developers need to be more community-driven than ever.

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A Lesson from Social Distancing: Build Better Balconies

A balcony with enough sunlight is needed for Vitamin-D.

What the COVID-19 lockdowns can teach us about city design

Planners may consider leaving small parcels of strategic urban land available for emergency food production or in case temporary medical facilities or housing need to be set up.

Coronavirus reminds us how liveable neighbourhoods matter for our well-being
We’re at a fork in the road: do we choose neighbourhoods to live, work and play in?

Commentary: Past pandemics changed the design of cities. Six ways COVID-19 could do the same

Expect more people to embrace the Healthy Building Movement, an approach to improving health through strategies like greater natural light, improved ventilation, fewer toxic substances and the incorporation of plants and other natural materials. Think skylights, large windows, rooftop terraces, balconies and courtyards. Spaces for exercise and meditation could become standard along with home offices.

Now Is the Time to Embrace Density

Smart cities during COVID-19

5. Finding new ways to make social isolation less isolating

Alongside Torino Social Impact, Nesta Italia and others have set up an open crowdsourced platform, Torino Come Stai? (Turin How Are You?) While still in early development, the platform aims to create a useful resource for those who are in quarantine. ...

Better collaboration between cities

Collective intelligence approaches are also enabling better collaboration between cities. Networks of ‘intelligent cities’ are pooling knowledge and resources about effective real-time pandemic responses. Examples are found along a continuum ranging from more centralised to more open, distributed approaches. ...

Other more open and collaborative models have emerged too, such as the Cities For Global Health platform. It seeks to blur traditional boundaries between local, regional, city levels of administration to find collective responses to deal with this crisis. ...

Small is beautiful: Planning for a post-Covid world

How COVID-19 Is Changing Our Perspective on Playgrounds

Coronavirus: we're in a real-time laboratory of a more sustainable urban future

These can be summed up in ten ideas that cities could implement after this crisis:

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If more of us work from home after coronavirus we’ll need to rethink city planning

Data from Aussie Broadband show evening peak broadband use has increased 25% during the shutdown. Additional daytime increases are expected due to home schooling with term 2 starting.

With more people working from home, domestic energy use in the middle of the day is noticeably higher. Some 30% of customers use an average of 1.5kWh more electricity between 9am and 5pm.

With these trends in mind, future investment in roads, public transport, energy and telecommunications will need to consider the likelihood of more people working from home.

Get me out of here! Americans flee crowded cities amid COVID-19, consider permanent moves

How COVID-19 could change the way cities look and operate after the lockdowns

Maze parks to micromarkets: How coronavirus could bring cities closer to home

Cities, Battered by COVID-19, Remain Key to Recovery. How Can Investments Be Well Spent?

We can’t let coronavirus kill our cities. Here’s how we can save urban life

Cities are especially vulnerable to COVID-19. These organizations are leading the urban response.

How Coronavirus Will Change City Life47:32

Coronavirus spotlights equity and access issues with children’s right to play

Our cities may never look the same again after the pandemic

So coronavirus will change cities – will that include slums?

Urban Resilience: Learnings from COVID-19

2. Urban food security

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Cuban urban gardens started as a response to the economic crisis of the early 1990s. following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The country, then heavily dependent on food imports, shifted to local food production. Urban farms were one of the positive outcomes of this shift. Today, Cuba’s urban farms produce over 65% of the country’s food on only 25% of its land.

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In Havana, agriculture occupies 46% of the city’s surface or 35,900 ha (FAO). In 2012, food production in the city reached 63 million kg of vegetables and 20 million kg of fruit. The generated food surplus goes to social needs: up to 10% of the local produce goes to schools, hospitals and universities at subsidised prices. In addition, families use 89,000 backyards and 5,100 plots of less than 800 sqm to grow fruit and vegetables for their own consumption. In densely populated areas, food is produced in containers on rooftops and balconies.

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In Germany, 20% of the agriculture is to be organically farmed by 2030 (Organic Food Production Alliance), which showcases the country’s consciousness for healthy eating habits. Berlin is at the forefront of the movement: many of its 3.6 million inhabitants want local, healthy and sustainable food. Over 80,000 households have a vegetable garden. People are growing high-quality organic fruit and vegetables in parks and on vacant plots.

FEATURE-Could coronavirus lockdowns help close Latin America's digital divide?

Airport cities and aerotropolises after the COVID-19 pandemic

Community organizations are indispensable partners in the COVID-19 crisis

How Smart City Planning Could Slow Future Pandemics

Will Covid-19 show us how to design better cities?

Tactical Urbanism: Reimagining Our Cities post-Covid-19

Coronavirus fallout could increase multifamily construction demand in suburbs

Closure of public loos to stop the spread of coronavirus could cause new health disaster: Anger as parks and beauty spots are defiled with waste

What is the future of metropolises after COVID-19 pandemic?

Insights from Big Data on How COVID-19 Is Changing Society

Architecture post COVID-19: the Profession, the Firms, and the Individuals


Webinars

Build Back Better: Cities at the Frontlines of COVID-19 Impact and Recovery
Webinar on Tactical Urbanism as COVID 19 Response - April 02, 2020
CTBUH India Webinar: Post-Pandemic Urban Design
UrbanNous
Webinar NLinSF: Urban Planning and Transportation after Covid-19
How Architecture and Interior Design Reduce the Risk of COVID-19
IFAT India webinar: Part 1-Impact of COVID 19 on Urban Development- How cities are tackling pandemic 2
Adapting Urban Density in the Age of Pandemics
Coping with the urban impacts of COVID-19 and imagining the aftermath