Pandemic and the planning of resilient cities and regions

Abstract

The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic motivated this paper, which revisits the nexus of public health and the city, itself a main source of a pandemic which similarly threatens the lives and properties of the world population gradually one glacier at a time: climate change. We argue that pandemics expose both the vulnerability and resilience of the urban system expansively, from rooftop to the region, but also serve as change agents for the planning of resilient cities and regions globally. The discussion of the urban system and the pandemic is comparative, with the recent coronavirus and climate change, a persistent, long-lasting pandemic. The historical and critical review and synthesis of the durable concepts of the urban system at the kernel of the theories and practices of urbanism is highlighted by place matters, cyberspace, density, access, and the city-region. We note the implications for reconfiguring the resilient urban system of the future effectively with pandemic as change agent and the comprehensive plan and its regulatory zoning ordinance as implementation tool.

Keywords: Cities; Climate change; Comprehensive plan; Coronavirus; Pandemic; Public health; Public realm; Regions; Resilience; Sustainability; Urban form; Urban system.

Fig. 1

NASA satellite images of airborne nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) reduction measured by mean tropospheric density over China, January 1–20, coronavirus, compared to February 10–25, with coronavirus quarantine, Chinese New Year, and a related economic slowdown.