-COVI

di
D-
srupti
19 isaradi calmomenti n so manyways.By
ng urban systemsso profoundl y,ithasthrust
POSI
TIVE SI
DE
thequesti on ofurban futuresbeforeusi n awaythatwe
cannoti gnore.Willciti
esrecover?Whatwi lltheylook
like?Wi lltheybemorei nclusive?Wi llprivatecars
reduceorexpand thei rdomi nanceoverpubli cstreets
and spaces?
-Thefirstphaseoftransformati on startswi th social
isolation.Streetsand avenuesalmostemptywi th masks
everywhere.Demand forpubli ctransportf allsbythree
quarters.
-Despitethesemeasures,manysti llhavedi fficul ty Fewermotorvehi clesmean lesscongesti on
getting food orto thedoctororto thei rjob,i ncreasi
ng and fewercollisions.Urban airquality
pressureon publi ctransportsystems. i
mproves,and manypeoplebegi n
experienci
ng t
angi blehealth benefi
tsfrom
morephysi calactivityand better
breathing.
ThePathsAhead
-
Thisisavision ofposi
tivetransformati
on.Cert ai
nly,i
twi
llnotbecaseeverywhere.I
n
ci
tiesthatignorethenew dynami csorareabandoned byoverburdened orcallous
governments,wemayseeadi fferentnarrati
ve.
TheIndi an novelistArundhatiRoyhas
-Publi
cand pri
vatetransi
toperatorsmay called pandemi cs“port als”–gateways
between oneworld and thenext.COVI D- 19
collapse.
i
saccelerati ng adef acto transi ti
on of
humanki nd into the21stcentury.Ci ti
es,
especiallythosei n thedevelopi ng world,
should notmi ssthi sonce- in-a-century
opportuni tyto rethi nkthest atusquo and
build betterurban mobi litysystemsthat
servemorepeople,moreabl yand wi th less
polluting and sprawl- i
nduci ng results.

-
Peopleli
dist
vi
ng i
antperi
n poorcommuni
pheri
tieslocated i
eswould suffermost.
n
hope
Wedo notcrossthi s21stcenturyport albarehanded.Thereisa
widearrayofsust ainablemobi li
tysolutionsthathavebeen
extensi
velytested acrossmanylati tudesand cultures.weneed
to actradicall
yon thispandemi csituati
on.weknow whatneeds
to bedoneto havemoresust ai
nableand inclusi
veurban mobi
lity.
Wecan takealeapnow i nto thatnew future.