Thammasat University students are cordially invited to participate in a free webinar on Wednesday, 8 September 2021 starting at 9pm Bangkok time on Cities after the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Thammasat University Library collection includes several books about different aspects of the Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and urban planning.
The webinar is hosted by the School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Melbourne.
Students may register at this link:
For further information or with any questions, kindly write to this email address:
max.holleran@unimelb.edu.au
As the event webpage explains,
Cities have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: CBDs have become ghost towns, entertainment venues are on life support, and epidemiological fears have made normal activities like riding on public transit or going to the cinema fraught choices. This panel examines what cities will be like when the pandemic is over. Will remote work dominate and many people will flock to suburbs and even regional or rural areas? Will social trust and neighbourliness diminish as new waves of viruses hit densely populated areas the hardest? Will Australian cities become less diverse as immigration becomes more difficult? Will home prices rise even higher as many—fearful of endless lockdowns—seek to combine work, living, education, and recreation under one roof? Please join us to consider these questions and more.
This event is held as part of National Social Science Week 2021, Australia.
A variety of webinars are being offered during National Social Science Week, Australia.
Among speakers at the 8 September webinar will be Professor Alison Young, Professor of Criminology, University of Melbourne; Dr. Elizabeth Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning & Design at Monash University; Dr. Kate Raynor, Research Fellow in Urban Planning, University of Melbourne; Dr. David Nichols, Associate Professor of Urban Planning, University of Melbourne; and Dr. Max Holleran, Research Fellow in Sociology, University of Melbourne.
COVID-19 and urban planning
Many academic researchers have published articles about the future of cities following the COVID-19 pandemic. One such article appeared last year in Science of The Total Environment:
The COVID-19 pandemic: Impacts on cities and major lessons for urban planning, design, and management.
Its abstract follows:
Since the early days of the COVID-19 crisis the scientific community has constantly been striving to shed light on various issues such as the mechanisms driving the spread of the virus, its environmental and socio-economic impacts, and necessary recovery and adaptation plans and policies. Given the high concentration of population and economic activities in cities, they are often hotspots of COVID-19 infections. Accordingly, many researchers are struggling to explore the dynamics of the pandemic in urban areas to understand impacts of COVID-19 on cities. In this study we seek to provide an overview of COVID-19 research related to cities by reviewing literature published during the first eight months after the first confirmed cases were reported in Wuhan, China. The main aims are to understand impacts of the pandemic on cities and to highlight major lessons that can be learned for post-COVID urban planning and design. Results show that, in terms of thematic focus, early research on the impacts of COVID-19 on cities is mainly related to four major themes, namely, (1) environmental quality, (2) socio-economic impacts, (3) management and governance, and (4) transportation and urban design. While this indicates a diverse research agenda, the first theme that covers issues related to air quality, meteorological parameters, and water quality is dominant, and the others are still relatively underexplored. Improvements in air and water quality in cities during lockdown periods highlight the significant environmental impacts of anthropogenic activities and provide a wake-up call to adopt environmentally friendly development pathways. The paper also provides other recommendations related to the socio-economic factors, urban management and governance, and transportation and urban design that can be used for post-COVID urban planning and design. Overall, existing knowledge shows that the COVID-19 crisis entails an excellent opportunity for planners and policy makers to take transformative actions towards creating cities that are more just, resilient, and sustainable.
The article’s summary and conclusions:
In early 2020 COVID-19 ravaged many countries around the world. Everyday life in many cities have been interrupted ever since. As many parts of the world continue to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic, the scientific community has made efforts to shed more light on its underlying dynamics. Drawing on the early evidence reported in the literature, in this study, we tried to understand major impacts on various urban sectors, identify key factors that should be considered for better preparation and response to future similar events, and highlight gaps that need to be further studied in the future research.
This review shows that early evidence is mainly related to four major themes, namely, (1) environmental quality, (2) socio-economic impacts, (3) management and governance, and (4) transportation and urban design. However, there is no balanced coverage of these themes, and issues related to the first theme are dominant. This is probably because data related to air quality and environmental impacts is more readily available, but accessing and analyzing data related to other themes may need more time.
While some common patterns can be observed, existing evidence indicates that impacts and response mechanisms differ from one context to another, and it is not always easy to provide identical recommendations that apply to different cities. However, like any other crisis, COVID-19 provides lessons that can be used to build back better. Major issues revealed by the pandemic and possible lessons/recommendations for better planning in the post-COVID era are presented in Table 2. This table provides some insights into how to handle the present and any future similar events that occur in cities. Clearly, cities need to re-evaluate their policies in different sectors. For instance, improvements in air and water quality during lockdown periods once again highlight the significant environmental impacts of anthropogenic activities and provide a wake-up call to adopt environmentally friendly development pathways. The pandemic has also exposed old socioeconomic inequalities that exist in cities. It was discussed how such inequalities could threaten public health by making it difficult to enforce protective measures such as social distancing. Obviously, overcoming such inequalities is critical and should be prioritized as cities recover from the pandemic.
In January, The World Bank published an overview of the Influence of COVID-19 on China’s Urban Planning and Design Regulations.
As The World Bank website noted,
Cities globally have been profoundly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This has sparked a discussion about how cities are designed to make them better equipped to resist the spread of disease and reshape urban planning to adapt to risks in health crises. History shows that infectious diseases have been hugely influential in shaping cities. Pandemics, such as the Black Death, Cholera, and Spanish flu, helped to catalyze innovations like urban sanitation systems and zoning regulations. Now the coronavirus is adding to the list, influencing key aspects of urban planning, architectural design, and city management. Integrating health in urban planning, design and management to make our cities resilient is critical, and the toll of COVID-19 is making this extremely relevant as well as timely. The first country to experience a coronavirus outbreak, China has been struggling to revive an economy impacted by COVID-19. The pandemic has caused economic losses of $1,600 billion1, with nearly ten thousand people infected, and economic loss as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP) of around 2 percent. China’s GDP growth is forecast to fall sharply to 1.6 percent in 2020 before rebounding back to 7.9 percent in 2021.
The purpose of this note is to explain how the pandemic is reshaping regulations in China and affecting urban planning and city management…The unprecedented impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic have highlighted the pressing need to bridge technical and regulatory gaps in urban design. Based on the points raised in this note, a variety of emergency initiatives and longterm responses have been taken by the Chinese authorities. In summary, these responses, which focus on strengthening land-use and spatial planning; enhancing environmental management; ensuring public spaces are well-managed; improving sectoral planning; improving city management’s capacity; and enhancing the architectural designs of various building types, are vital for making cities resilient and healthy.
Other articles have addressed similar topics, offering innovative concepts for future cities.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)