Globalisation, tourism, the move to online, climate change and the explosive growth of cities have generated a broad array of stress factors, pollutants and toxins that threaten the world's population and which have only been further highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. These stressors and their effects are, to a large extent, urban in origin and, therefore, post-pandemic urban planning must consider the connection between human activity, climate change and pandemics and move current urban lifestyles and city construction towards a more decentralised and sustainable model. This is the main thesis of the study “Post-Pandemic Urbanism: Criteria for a New Normal”, published recently in the scientific journal Sustainability and led by Lorenzo Chelleri, lecturer at UIC Barcelona; Michael Neuman, lecturer at the University of Westminster (UK) and Thorsten Schuetze, lecturer at the University of Sungkyunkwan (Korea).

As the researchers warn in their study, that even before the onset of the pandemic, the global system was showing significant symptoms and imbalances such as the exponential increase in synthetic chemicals to which our physiologies have not yet adapted and which, since 2016, are already showing signs of a decrease in longevity in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. The study also warns of the unstoppable effects of climate change, which are causing mass human migration that is expected to reach more than a billion climate refugees by 2050. “As a people, we have not been able to transform the current highly destructive global system of production and consumption into a sustainable system that facilitates the restoration of our global ecosystems”, the researchers explain. 

Towards a new urban paradigm: Rediscovering local and regional life
Our modern urban lifestyles and city-focused construction are not sustainable, and are becoming less and less so. As the study highlights, routines once considered normal should be reassessed in the new post-pandemic world based on urgent criteria of sustainability and climate resilience to move towards a new paradigm, which is less dependent on large urban centres and favours a lifestyle in greater contact with nature. In order to do this, the study points out that we need to start prioritising the decentralisation of infrastructure so that spaces outside big cities can be rediscovered. This implies a shift in perspective and investment by those who manage these infrastructures, whether they are politicians, planners, engineers or companies. 

“The new post-pandemic cityscape should seek to disrupt our routines of commuting to and from the city centre for work, and continue to accelerate and facilitate a change in lifestyle and mobility. Being able to work remotely, increase energy self-sufficiency, buy, produce, and live more locally, redistributing our societies in areas that are now depopulated, provides a roadmap to post-pandemic regional urban development”, they point out.  

"The obstacles thrown up by the pandemic have taught us that it is possible to suspend an entire economic system and its implicit judgements about social and environmental value. The challenge now is to hold on to the things we have learned and understand that new ways of doing things are not only possible, but fundamental if we want to deal with the crisis that we have infringed upon ourselves and our existence. If we have been able to implement these changes for COVID-19, we can continue to do so for a much greater existential threat. The climate emergency is forcing us to change our practices with unlimited imagination, experimentation, and research”, the researchers conclude.

Picture by: ©J.Shim