Why one city suffers significantly more deaths than another isn’t always obvious. A simple experiment shows how failing to consider certain factors can point policy makers in the wrong direction.
Neighborhood characteristics like pollution from busy roads, widespread public transit use and lack of community-based health care are putting certain communities at greater risk from COVID-19.
Visits to ‘adult’ sites surged in March when coronavirus pandemic restrictions came in. While tastes vary around the country, a disproportionate share of traffic comes from our biggest cities.
Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of many great North American city parks, understood that ready access to nature made cities healthier places to live.
For centuries, disease outbreaks have forced cities to transform physically and operationally in ways that ultimately benefited all residents going forward.
Robert Muggah, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) et Richard Florida, University of Toronto
COVID-19 is spreading fast through not only the world’s richest cities but also its poorest, ravaging slum areas where risk factors like overcrowding and poverty accelerate disease transmission.
The plight of the urban poor affected by COVID-19 highlights the need to to reaffirm that adequate housing, water supply and sanitation are basic human rights.
We sorely miss our regular haunts during the coronavirus lockdown not only because we like them but also because a healthy society needs places where people can gather, mix and mingle.
Bhaktapur suffered 300 deaths, 2,000 wounded and over 30,000 houses damaged in the 2015 earthquake. Heritage restoration has become crucial to community recovery.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, we must seize the opportunity to make urban centers more livable places by investing in affordable housing, basic services, clean energy and active transport.