Forum A+P Vol.24

During the last two years, millions of people around the world had to quarantine, self-isolate, and apply physical and social distancing[1]. Our lives, our family and work have drastically shifted into what many are increasingly calling the “new normal”[2]. People work, study, shop and even get health advice remotely. Yet, not everyone enjoys suitable spaces for conducting virtual lives. While much of the public attention has been given to medical experts and government guidelines; de facto, it is clear that the way we have designed and planned so far our homes and cities has been shaping how we were facing the pandemic at an individual and social level. The web reports and scholar articles on the role of architecture and urban design and planning on the post-pandemic life and city are thriving daily. Indeed, there are so many fundamental questions to raise on the societal response in the post-pandemic city. Architects, planners and city experts seem excluded by the pool experts outlining solutions for the current global crisis[3]. Yet, this is an historical moment where their contribution in proposing a new agenda for the future condition of our urban environments is much needed. In this frame, Forum A+P is aiming at housing a scholar and professional discourse on the following questions:

• What is the nature of (post-) pandemic city transformations?
• What urban factors and qualities stand at the core of these transformations?
• In what ways do health and wellbeing intertwine with city-making in a post-pandemic context?
• To what extent COVID-19 will/could alter our understanding of urban space and pertaining life dialectics?
• In what ways will the society operate within urban environments in the future?
• What about our houses, leisure activities, public space, mobility, and work environments?
• What lessons will designers, architects, planners draw on their  role for city making?
• What about the education and research for these professions?

Such questions become relevant while the society is imposed with measures of physical distancing that will eventually impose long-standing social distance; when new perceptions on sanitation and hygiene are emerging; when uncertainty over the strength of the public health system is just increasing; and the welfare of the society seems so depended on vaccination. In short, while we adjust to government guidelines claimed as short-term and of questionable ethics, we can only imagine long-term effects for travel and urban mobility, urban safety, environment, leisure and sports, and social interaction. There is no place for speculation as this pandemic evolves into a common routine of human life or remains an isolated event that calls to our collective consciousness for making cities sustainable. Whatever the case, the city needs rethinking and the urban space needs reinvention.

[1] See World Health Organisation (https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1) and the following sites (1) https://ourworldindata.org/policy-responses-covid and (2) https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/research-projects/coronavirus-government-response-tracker on information and data on the countries policy and social response towards COVID-19 pandemic. The US Cigna survey found that 79 percent of Generation Z and 71 percent of millennials are lonely versus 50 percent of boomers. The data is definitely worrying compared to the average 47 percent of the 2018 and with the fact that the increasing factor was found equally divided among different age groups. (source: “Social Isolation and Health, ” Health Affairs Health Policy Brief, June 22, 2020. DOI: 10.1377/hpb20200622.253235) [2] See: https://www.who.int/westernpacific/news/commentaries/detail-hq/from-the-new-normal-to-a-new-future-a-sustainable-response-to-covid-19.

[3] See https://www.artribune.com/professioni-e-professionisti/politica-e-pubblica-amministrazione/2020/04/ricostruzione-task-force-fase-2-coronavirus/.