Parklets, traffic-free zones and outdoor eating: how Covid is transforming our cities – CapX

The pandemic, as the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, acknowledged in July 2020, is a deeply urban crisis. Covid has flourished due to the things that are a city s strengths: population density and diversity, concentrations of logistics and mobility networks, fluid population bases.

It has also flourished due to the deep, structural flaws in many of our cities: poor air quality, food inequalities, crowded or unaffordable housing, poor provision of public space, often unhealthy populations. Long-standing systemic health and social inequities have exacerbated the impact of the pandemic on city residents, disproportionately affecting racial and ethnic minority groups.

When the coronavirus first hit, people speculated that it might even bring about the end of the city. Evidence from around the world, however, suggests that cities are simply adapting, as they have always done.

In response to the crisis, city governments have altered the urban environment rapidly and effectively. A 2020 review of city-based Covid-19 innovations by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows how councils

via capx.co