Health advice to avoid
crowded, enclosed spaces, and time spent in close contact with other
citizens, each a feature
of a normally functioning transit system, has made passengers more
skeptical to use mass
transit for commuting. The post-pandemic city may be less convivial, and
the decline in the number and
thickness of third places may lead to an increase in safety but perhaps
at a loss of social
intimacy. The closure of urban public spaces,
one of the more dramatic responses to COVID-19, has heavily impacted
third spaces, those
that are neither work nor home such as barbershops, bars, cafes, gyms,
and restaurants. Governments should take this opportunity to
reimagine a livelier and more interesting post-pandemic city as we
continue to make cities
less vulnerable to pandemics in the future. Often considered as an
important part of the lively nature of cities, in a pandemic, they are
now feared by many as
places where contagion between strangers is more likely. There was an
initial steep
decline in all road traffic as fewer people travelled to work either by
private cars or by public
transport. The longer-term impact of this may be in the emergence of less
crowded places with stricter
controls over distancing and limitations on direct human-to-human contact
between
strangers. Throughout history, cities have
evolved to solve problems of sanitation, hygiene, and health access while
providing space
and opportunities for urban dwellers. Third
spaces are particularly important in most cities as they are where
different people can come
together albeit sometimes in fleeting interactions.
Still, it is necessary to remember that in the face of a global pandemic,
besides the losses,
there are also opportunities to rethink cities. The post-pandemic city
may be a more
walkable and bike-friendly city than could have been imagined prepandemic. In general, public transport is perhaps cheaper
than private transport, but in the pandemic city, it is seen as riskier.
Many city authorities are also taking advantage of this situation to
close
streets to cars, open others to bicycles, and widen sidewalks to help
residents maintain the
six-foot distancing. This decline has created an opportunity to reinforce
the shift away from cardominant cities and towards greater emphasis on non-car spaces. Some city
streets became
“street eateries” as restaurants spilled out onto sidewalks to provide
open-air socially
distanced places.