Key Recommendations for Cities in a COVID-19 World

Urban Communities Worldwide
Project type: COVID-19 Response
Collaborators: UN-Habitat
Tags: economic opportunity, micro-interventions, disaster recovery, public health, public safety and security, social inclusion and human rights, COVID-19

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed all of our relationships with public spaces. While we’ve witnessed how critical shared spaces are to our mental and physical health, the lack of access in inner cities is disproportionately hurting the urban poor, which is threatening the economy, safety, and stability of cities worldwide.

In times of community need, public spaces are vital as flexible, shared resources for cities. Here are 11 key areas that we recommend local and national governments focus on to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while developing community resilience.

Building Resilience, Block by Block

Short-term:

1. Public spaces are an important asset in a time of crisis. 

Public spaces are essential in providing space for the swift and rapid establishment of temporary and secondary facilities for provision of healthcare, for food or resource distribution, and for mental health. These temporary measures may need to be used longer than originally expected, so they need to be flexible, multi-functional, and adaptable.

2. A well-connected and integrated system of public spaces includes streets. 

With roughly half of the global population under lockdown or coming out of lockdown, vehicle traffic has reduced dramatically on our streets and public transit ridership has dropped by as much as 80% in some cities. Cities are temporarily, and some even permanently, reallocating road space from cars to provide more space for people to move around safely, creating a network throughout the city, easing movement, and respecting physical distancing rules. Creating more walkable streets and investing in greening the city results in reduced CO2 emissions and better air quality, which also impacts people’s health and well-being, while reducing disease spread.

3. We need to expand the amount of land allocated to public space, including streets.

Physical distancing requires adequate space between people when in public. The amount of land in cities allocated to public space will have to be extended to be able to create more resilient cities. The expansion of streets for active mobility is seen as an impactful measure to make physical distancing possible on sidewalks, particularly in countries which already have high numbers of pedestrians walking on inadequate footpaths, such as in informal settlements and slums.

4. To be resilient in times of crisis, public spaces need to be multi-functional, flexible, and continually adaptable.

We need to build resilience into our public spaces through agile adaptation. For example, cities could incorporate temporary food markets into neighborhood community spaces such as parking lots or streets to decongest existing markets. They could transform small neighborhood spaces into pop-up community health centres, spaces for food distribution, or spaces for food gardens in marginalized communities and slums. They could plan streets and spaces to allow for organized street vending on select days or times of day, ensuring multi-use and shared use of the spaces. Cities could also repurpose street space by expanding sidewalks to facilitate safe walking, skating, and jogging as well as introducing temporary bike lanes to enable safer mobility.

5. Public space and public facilities can provide essential services required for marginalized communities during a pandemic.

Providing clean restroom facilities, water, and hand-washing facilities (and/or appropriate cleaning products) can help people without access to clean running water and sanitation facilities better protect themselves, and thus better protect the community as a whole.

6. For many, especially the poor, public space is important for their livelihoods.

Poor families are some of the most affected in the pandemic, many of whom depend on public space to earn a living. Over 60% of urban employment in Africa is considered to be in the informal sector. Informal workers produce goods and services that are essential to the functioning of the economy. During a lock-down, it is therefore important to provide a space to allow street vendors to operate. Streets can be adapted to provide space for vendors at a sufficient distance from each other to sell their wares. Cities could also provide basic protective gear, such as masks, to allow vendors to continue to earn a living.

7. Public spaces can be a platform for sharing, connecting places and people. 

Public spaces that remain open for use provide opportunities to share information about prevention measures such as the importance of physical distancing and hand-washing hygiene. Governments can provide clear and accessible information in these public spaces to reduce the spread and impact of disinformation. These spaces can also provide a platform for dialogue and negotiation to enable government and poor and informal workers to discuss and jointly formulate relevant frameworks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases. 

Medium and long-term:

8. We need more equitable distribution of public spaces. 

The pandemic has demonstrated how unevenly public space is distributed throughout many of our cities, especially in poor neighborhoods, where there are few shared spaces like parks, gardens, and playgrounds within a 10-minute walk from home. While parks, green areas, and playgrounds are so important in reducing stress levels, improving mental health, and contributing to child development, they are still considered a privilege. 

Local governments need to ensure that open spaces are evenly distributed across cities, using a web of streets to promote walking and cycling, while facilitating physical distancing. Multi-functional, flexible use of public space and streets can help reduce the spread of disease, while still ensuring that we are not leaving anyone or any place behind.

9. Plan for the self-sufficient neighborhoods or “15-minute compact city” neighborhoods.

With the pandemic and its restrictions on public movement, the self-sufficient neighborhood and “15-minute compact city” is a model that could contain the spread of the virus. This model still ensures that all residents can have all their needs met—be they for work, school, shopping, health, leisure, or culture—within 15 minutes of their own doorstep. While this could prove valuable to containing the spread of infectious diseases, it can only work if there is an equitable distribution of essential services, streets, and public spaces, which we don’t currently have.

10. The design, materials, management, and maintenance of public spaces are all key to fighting the spread of COVID-19. 

Because COVID-19 is an airborne virus that may also be passed through contaminated surfaces, public space should be designed to allow for physical distancing and easy, regular maintenance. Public space managers need to ensure that these spaces are also made of materials that can be cleaned frequently and thoroughly, particularly high-touch surfaces like doors, handles, and furniture.

11. We need to cultivate “social resilience” in our communities. 

The COVID-19 virus has both negative and positive impacts on how people interact with each other in public and as part of the social fabric. The pandemic and the nature of the virus affects the way people socialise, challenging existing cultural and familiar practices, which can create tensions in public spaces. The social and connection elements of public spaces remain important and can strengthen resilience in communities. For example, balconies above streets, where community members can safely socialise with one another outside and at a distance could help. Neighborhood streets could be transformed into cinemas, theatres, or gym classes. Cities have nearly endless capacity to get creative and build resilience.

Progress

The COVID-19 pandemic experience may lead to richer partnerships across sectors. Healthcare workers, public housing advocates, community developers, social organizations, nonprofits, and researchers can all take the opportunity to influence policy for the better. Systemic change doesn’t happen without supportive policy. Creating a shared policy agenda that takes into account urban planning, community development, architecture, green building, and public health has great potential to improve the mental and physical health of communities, while revitalizing shared spaces.

More Resources

The following small, but significant interventions have helped support the re-opening of cities in need, giving communities renewed confidence in their public realms, economically and socially.

Pop-Up Playgrounds for Kids in Hanoi

Livelihood Help for Street Vendors in Bangladesh

Imagination Kits for Children in São Paulo, Brazil

COVID Protection for Informal Settlements in Bhopal

Market Vendor Support in Kisumu, Kenya

Market Hygiene in Niamey, Niger

LGBTQI+ Safe Spaces in Quito, Ecuador