Insight Session: The post-COVID City - bringing together urban practitioners to work towards greener cities

The post-COVID City: bringing together urban planners, climate researchers and health experts to work towards greener cities.

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 catalyse 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.

The coronavirus highlighted the importance of accessible green spaces, which are associated with improved physical and mental health for residents. The management of many cities in developing countries found that they lack green spaces, parks, and recreation areas, which are perceived as a “refuge” during the crisis. In the context of COVID-19, the 15-minute life circle concept (where essential public amenities or spaces are located within a 15-minute walkable and cycling distance) has gained attraction as a means of increasing the quality and sustainability of life in cities. This is also in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #11 on sustainable cities and communities that promotes universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces as well as goal #13 on climate change that aims to shape the 21st century economy in ways that are clean, green, healthy, safe and more resilient.

Date & Time: 18. October, from 10:00 - 11:30 am CEST (Berlin-time)