Introduction from the Editors
Facing the new normal in a Post-Crisis and Post- Pandemic Cities
Author: Prof. Dr. Besnik Aliaj, Dr. Rudina Toto, Dr.Valerio Perna
Affiliation: POLIS University
Abstract
During the year 2020-22, 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. Meantime, several strong earthquakes hit capital region of Albania leaving behind thousands of destroyed houses and tens of human victims. The incidence of flooding and fires has been doubled and tripled due to climate change. The global economic crisis and the logic of stabilocracy has worsened the situation. On the top of such general instability stay the events of last pandemic crisis and a desperate need for resilient actions.
Reference List
•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)
• Using a literary gimmick, the term was mutuated from Robert A. Heinlein’s novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, with a character telling lunar colonists: «[...] I hope you will comply willingly; it will speed the day when I can bow out and life can get back to normal — a new normal, free of the Authority, free of guards, free of troops stationed on us, free of passports and searches and arbitrary arrests». Heinlein, R.A. (1966) The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
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• Schön, D. (1973). Beyond the stable state; W. W. Norton & Company; 1st Edition 1973; ISBN: 978- 0393006858;
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