Member-only story
Post-COVID Cities: An Explication
There is no shortage of punditry about the pandemic and its impact on cities, their density, form, and structure. The last several months have demonstrated both the value of empirical research, personal stories, and the need to balance them carefully. While we completed our pending book, Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character, in April, we also resolved to avoid never-ending amendments to accommodate post-COVID reportage for three reasons:
- Much learning exists from past pandemics and similar disaster response.
- The pandemic has accelerated many ongoing trends in urban design and commerce (e.g. compact communities, online retail, and other climate-wise solutions) that are already well-documented.
- Many smart people are already dedicating considered effort to meaningfully respond to the work-in-progress we now encounter every day.
In a sense, I’ve been tracking resources that I might have cited if the pandemic had been our distinct focus, or had reflected prominently at the outset of our research. In the alternative, I’d like to recommend the following, which-at least to me-are thoughtful, non-sensational bits of reading on relevant sub-topics and foci, most of which have not yet reached the level of Twitterati proclamations:
