How COVID-19 has delivered an overdue nudge to our cities – Construction Week Online

How COVID-19 has delivered an overdue nudge to our cities – Construction Week Online

Historically, pandemics have unevenly affected cities, but also cities’ ability to innovate positioned them at the forefront in battling them. Cities mostly rebounded by innovating new solutions that subdued the causes of the creation and dissemination of diseases. By doing so, they restructured their economic and social activities and invested heavily in public infrastructure to make them safer and more resilient.

Similarly, today, doomsayers of cities have been disproven. Although cities were disproportionally affected by COVID-19, they generally managed to shrug off the disease’s woes by relying on technology and undertaking urban reforms. As the crisis prolongs, these changes are taking permanent shape as people adapt their living and working habits to safer and more sustainable practices. Consequently, we at Atkins, a member of SNC-Lavalin Group, through our research and experience in planning and design, have outlined six urban trends that are expected to become defining features of post-pandemic cities, inching them closer towards sustainability.

The Great Reshuffling