Expert perspectives on… urban resilience in the face of pandemics

Simin Davoudi, promoter of Evolutionary Resilience theory, renowned urban planner and professor

“At the time when the COVID-19 pandemic is spiralling into multifaceted crises across the world with a tragic loss of lives and livelihoods, we cannot but hope to bounce back to ‘normality’. But, is this what urban resilience is all about? Indeed, there are many aspects of urban life to which we wish to return – notably the social encounters that are enabled by public spaces – but there are others that we dread – notably inequalities and pollutions.

This means that cities can become resilient only if they shift their attention from simply bouncing back to where they were before, to bouncing forward to a better place. This requires the ability to turn the current crisis into a window of opportunity for reflections and reforms. The pandemic has shone a light on longstanding urban inequalities and has made us reflect on what kind of cities we want to live in, and what and whom should be valued most. To become resilient, therefore, cities need to use this energy and engage with transformative reforms in many aspects of urban life.”

Esteban León, Head of the City Resilience Global Programme of UN-Habitat

“Globally, humanity is enduring one of the most difficult moments in decades. It is frightening to witness how easily systems and even communities seem to be “deconstructed” in front of our eyes. The sky, seas, rivers are clearer, and wildlife, relishing the lack of noise, vehicles, contamination and human presence, are venturing out into spaces that were dangerous just weeks before. The financial markets, our human “empires”, however, are diminishing rapidly.

Humanity should seize this opportunity for collective reflection: we must act now to plan better, more sustainable and resilient cities. Efforts to build more resilient cities must also be by people, for people. They must also favour a compact city approach. Even if this feels counter-intuitive right now, the compact city ultimately  brings many benefits in terms of high residential density, efficient mobility and the maximisation of energy consumption and reduced negative environmental impact.

My hope is that the COVID-19 pandemic crisis awakens us to the fragility in which we all live: the virus is revealing weaknesses in the systems we have built. North, South, East and West, we must come together to advocate, plan and build resilient cities, not tomorrow, but now.”

This excerpt has been adapted from Mr León’s article published on the Urban Resilience Hub on 5th May 2020;  it is published by the EUKN with permission from Mr León. The original article can be accessed here.