tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/urban-life-691/articlesUrban life – The Conversation2023-09-11T15:42:18Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2128882023-09-11T15:42:18Z2023-09-11T15:42:18ZWhy your perception of climate change threats might depend on where you live – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546887/original/file-20230907-18-wk7k8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3199%2C2217&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People's perceptions of the threat of climate change vary according to where they live.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/road-closed-sign-flooded-street-york-120960130">JaneHYork/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Our planet has just seen its <a href="https://theconversation.com/july-was-earths-hottest-month-on-record-4-factors-driving-2023s-extreme-heat-and-climate-disasters-209975">hottest month</a> on record, with many places on fire or flooded. Few events can be directly attributed to climate change, but the likelihood of extreme weather <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2752-5295/ac6e7d?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=217900917&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--vIRNcML-N5eyhXNbUkFRofJMkOnQu1XYSZ1h_C1qgDnUdoOBCxFrsBkay1X6WZvEJ7egPLQ-Vog5y9mcE8Jm4WSnZZw&utm_content=217900917&utm_source=hs_email">keeps increasing</a> – and people are noticing. </p>
<p>However, not everyone notices or feels this threat to the same extent. Our <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0290354">new research</a> shows there is a contrast in how people in different locations perceive this threat, largely along urban and rural lines. </p>
<p>Cities are affected in different ways than rural areas. For instance, there are far fewer <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705815026387">natural surfaces</a> in urban areas, which creates problems with rainwater drainage, increased temperatures and decreased evaporation. </p>
<p>Cities have been said to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate3358">spearhead climate action</a>, and climate activism such as the environmental movement inspired by Greta Thunberg, <a href="https://theconversation.com/fridays-for-future-how-the-young-climate-movement-has-grown-since-greta-thunbergs-lone-protest-144781">Fridays for Future</a>, evolved primarily <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/italian-political-science-review-rivista-italiana-di-scienza-politica/article/rich-kids-of-europe-social-basis-and-strategic-choices-in-the-climate-activism-of-fridays-for-future/9341161E2CF317C93DBD5E5A0E67D627">in cities</a>. </p>
<p>On the other hand, people living in rural areas often <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-0467.2010.00353.x?casa_token=JymUEVw9sqcAAAAA:vNFeYoE2OCR8hD0XvehHqwvKb1KVsaVaXMEJFNN26ndBsOwPOb8OEhcCZHY1IRxpzqVeulsRrur2Idtm">identify strongly</a> with the place in which they live. They are close to nature and can feel passionately about it, especially if <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494414000954">their livelihood</a> depends on that environment. </p>
<p>In our study, we wanted to find out how British people who live in cities experience the threat of climate change, compared with people who live rurally. We expected rural people to feel greater place attachment, but wondered if that also makes them perceive climate change as a greater threat. This is a connection that had not been previously explored. </p>
<p>Based on a representative sample of 1,071 survey respondents from across the UK,
we found that people in rural areas showed higher degrees of place attachment than people living in cities, as we expected. However, we were surprised to see that the perceived threat of climate change in the most rural locations was lower. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An aerial scene of green fields and trees with a running through the middle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People living in rural areas often identify strongly with where they live.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-rural-farmland-730291111">Richard Whitcombe/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We had not expected that outcome, so we started to dig a little deeper for possible reasons. As it turned out, there are three compelling explanations.</p>
<h2>1. Awareness</h2>
<p>People in rural areas may not be as aware of climate change as people in cities. This is certainly true for people in other countries like <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate2728">China</a>, so it could be true for our participants, too. </p>
<p>However, looking more closely, the effect is mostly down to education rather than whether people live in rural areas or not. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14693062.2012.702982?casa_token=t8LECc5bjwIAAAAA%3ABAGPw2sON-xdKShF2sfsZ5PWhBJsN0mIU08y-a2LPG6W31A8tSyvEx5k84lsV2-0euEwkXf4nImAdw">Research shows</a> that general levels of climate awareness in the UK are quite high. But this does not necessarily correspond to readiness for action or behavioural change. </p>
<p>It is well documented, though, that rural inhabitants tend to have <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ruso.12256?casa_token=fZGRm6oYGhAAAAAA:1DA0Mi0zUTxdXU_XBNZQa85x1OhhBioX-t37xtX0NY9a1kjYjJRhPbmCNnl7VqAvmuowsLN9cnZAEBAG">more conservative views</a>, which could affect the way climate change is interpreted. Conservative views <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09644016.2015.1090371?casa_token=MhVk4e-W4lsAAAAA:Fcqccoc2PD3cqFRB82Idd4i6d8lLLheQQYfupLzOm96qke8Pp4uxeRfQjm05FbLZf5pHEK0kJUgSfw">are often</a> associated with less concern about the climate. </p>
<h2>2. Experience</h2>
<p>People in rural areas may not experience climate change in the same way as people in cities. This is because rural areas have higher levels of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00920-w">green space</a> than <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/alex/benv/2007/00000033/00000001/art00003">urban areas</a>. For example, you will feel the heat less when you are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721023093?casa_token=-Phv3ImaApcAAAAA:U6u2e48CnZy9iKG5LC8wrXeDSozeQpi8g8FRQFQkHf4HoSVLSOX1S59iUUK4OTVV2zD9702jPBM">surrounded by trees</a>.</p>
<p>In the past, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378011000173?casa_token=Yd49iGZlcLQAAAAA:QIG9V0eJVT3FGk4j1UYY5YN4kfqd7Tk6S1HmO5fa4xPlI0DR2QuZMJ5_Ng-MBsAwt225iwQmf0k">research has shown</a> that rural inhabitants were quite sceptical about climate change. This may also be related to their different perceptions about the threat. </p>
<h2>3. Resilience</h2>
<p>And rural people may be more resilient to change. This is something that has been previously observed <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468227620301356">in Ghana</a>, where the impact of climate change on farmers’ livelihoods is paired with low climate vulnerability and high resilience to climate change. </p>
<p>Rural people may be aware of climate change and they may experience it like everyone else, but they may have better ways of coping with it than city dwellers because of their closer relationship with nature. This may have taught them to be more <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10745-018-0026-7">flexible</a> in how they deal with change. After all, nature changes a lot and that could make them less worried about the major changes happening around them. </p>
<p>So, although we were surprised that the higher degree of place attachment in people living rurally did not necessarily lead to a higher perception of climate change threat, we can see there are good reasons for that. </p>
<p>Climate change is certainly worrying for most of us and sometimes linked with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0887618520300773?casa_token=vvO95F2IWFwAAAAA:EMVSaEy10Yg3AzZc2kC0TADqgVGch3MCHRiiC0Nix5mKFI6bk-OGsgtwpaEVYfFkDuIG7hP3IX8">heightened anxiety</a>. We will inevitably react emotionally to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.10.003">extreme weather that affects us</a>. What matters is what we do in our everyday lives, how much we recognise that things are changing and whether we are willing to take action. </p>
<p>This could mean making a change <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-yes-your-individual-action-does-make-a-difference-115169">in our own lives</a>, getting involved <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-action-shouldnt-mean-choosing-between-personal-and-political-responsibility-130656">in politics</a>, or <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14645">taking action locally</a> to become more resilient when extreme weather, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/floods-are-going-to-get-worse-we-need-to-start-preparing-for-them-now-172902">flooding</a>, heat or violent storms, happen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212888/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thora Tenbrink acknowledges Bangor University's seed funding for the reported research. She also receives funding through the UKRI-funded RECLAIM Network Plus grant (EP/W034034/1), and through the ESRC-funded Rural Wales Local Policy and Innovation Partnership (Phase 1), ES/Y000226/1. </span></em></p>People living in rural areas perceive the threat of climate change to be lower than people in cities.Thora Tenbrink, Professor of Linguistics, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2096672023-08-29T12:34:31Z2023-08-29T12:34:31ZWhat can cities do to correct racism and help all communities live longer? It starts with city planning<p>The average life expectancy <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220831.htm">in the U.S. is 76.1 years</a>. But this range varies widely – a child raised in wealthy San Mateo County, California, <a href="https://www.rwjf.org/en/insights/our-research/interactives/whereyouliveaffectshowlongyoulive.html">can expect to live nearly 85 years</a>. A child raised in Fort Worth, Texas, could expect to <a href="https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2019/life-expectancy-texas-zipcode.html">live about 66.7 years</a>. </p>
<p>Race, poverty, as well as related issues like the ability to find nearby <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1863">grocery stores</a> and <a href="https://www.nrpa.org/blog/understanding-equity-in-parks-and-recreation/">easily visit clean parks</a>, all influence health. </p>
<p>This means that a person’s ZIP code is often a better predictor of their <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/life-expectancy-depend-on-zipcode-10-miles-difference-2018-10">life expectancy than their genetic code</a>. </p>
<p>The air people breathe, the streets they walk, and their general sense of safety and happiness are all shaped by city and town plans. </p>
<p>Making city and town plans more inclusive has been at the forefront of California politics since a 2016 state mandate required that local jurisdictions address what is often called <a href="https://calepa.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/10/EnvJustice-Documents-2016yr-EJReport.pdf">“environmental justice.”</a> This term generally means that all people are treated equally when it comes to <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/environment/sb1000">environmental laws and policy</a>, including cities’ plans for where and how developers can build housing, businesses and parks.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tiWgmHQAAAAJ&hl=en">scholar of human ecology</a> and urban design. Part of my research is focused on trying to answer a complex question about eliminating the health and life-expectancy gap people experience in the U.S.: What can cities and towns do – and what is actually working – to correct racist legacies and help people live longer lives?</p>
<h2>Brief history of environmental justice</h2>
<p>Environmental justice stems from a <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/environmental-justice-movement">1980s social movement</a> that protested toxic waste being dumped in predominantly Black neighborhoods in the South. </p>
<p>Long-term inequalities in public spending and design choices to concentrate lower-income housing near hazardous waste facilities have meant that children of color growing up in those neighborhoods near toxic waste sites disproportionately suffered from chronic health problems, like <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300183">childhood cancer and asthma</a>.</p>
<p>There are some efforts underway to counter this trend. </p>
<p>The Biden administration, for example, convened an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/white-house-environmental-justice-advisory-council/">environmental justice advisory council</a> in 2021 to track local disparities in health, environmental and economic impacts. </p>
<p>But environmental justice progress ultimately depends on local work. </p>
<p>City and county plans and zoning codes determine where new housing will be developed, at what density, and where commercial or industrial properties are situated. Plans also direct public funding for new parks and environmental cleanups. </p>
<p>Together, zoning and land-use plans set noise levels and air pollution limits.</p>
<p>It’s no coincidence that local jurisdictions place more low-income housing in the same places where they also tolerate higher <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/urban-noise-pollution-worst-poor-minority-neighborhoods-segregated-cities">levels of noise</a> <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/racial-ethnic-minorities-low-income-groups-u-s-air-pollution/">and pollution</a>. </p>
<p>These same neighborhoods are <a href="https://nlihc.org/resource/racial-disparities-among-extremely-low-income-renters">often home to communities of color</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A 'for rent' sign for a 2 bedroom apartment is hung outside of a building on a quiet street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545087/original/file-20230828-19-t4tpb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A sign advertises apartments for rent in San Francisco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sign-is-posted-in-front-of-an-apartment-building-with-news-photo/1497264660?adppopup=true">Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>California’s housing policies</h2>
<p>Los Angeles, for example, has <a href="https://phys.org/news/2022-03-la-region-residential-zoned-exclusionary.html">exclusionary zoning policies</a> that can make it harder for low-income people to purchase homes in particular neighborhoods. The zoning policies require the construction of single family homes with large yards in many neighborhoods. Low-income people often cannot afford such homes. </p>
<p>As a result of the zoning policies, nearly <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/will-californias-new-zoning-promote-racial-and-economic-equity-los-angeles">80% of apartment buildings with two to four units</a> are concentrated in low-income neighborhoods that are primarily inhabited by residents of color. </p>
<p>This is a <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/redlining#:%7E:text=Redlining%20can%20be%20defined%20as,on%20their%20race%20or%20ethnicity.">vestige of redlining</a>, a racist U.S. government policy that took root in the 1920s and 1930s. The policy made it difficult for people of color in certain areas to get mortgages, insurance loans and other financial services. </p>
<p>The zoning code concentrates poorer people into particular neighborhoods, which generally results in poorer health outcomes for residents, because these same neighborhoods do not receive proportionate funding for libraries, schools, parks, roads and other public projects, given their populations. </p>
<p><a href="https://plansearch.caes.ucdavis.edu/results/?query=environmental+justice">Seventeen of the 88 cities</a> within Los Angeles County have developed policies to address these disparities. For example, Inglewood’s 2020 plan adopts an inclusionary zoning policy to construct affordable housing in the same locations as market-rate housing. </p>
<p>Other places in California, like the the city of Richmond, have introduced <a href="https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/2575/Health-in-All-Policies">a Health in All Policies approach to combat inequality</a>. This means that Richmond <a href="https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/57209/HiAP-Report-2020">carefully considers health outcomes</a> for all zoning and planning decisions. </p>
<h2>Analyzing California city plans</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tiWgmHQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">I led a team</a> at the University of California, Davis <a href="https://regionalchange.ucdavis.edu/">Center for Regional Change</a> to find out how California communities address environmental justice. </p>
<p>We collected over 500 finalized California city plans from 2020 through 2022. Plans are required to be updated every three to eight years, but we found that some places are still running on plans drafted in the 1970s. </p>
<p>City plans are often hard to find on individual city and county websites – or they are buried in the shelves of municipal libraries.</p>
<p>Local communities spend years in public meetings finessing the details of city plans. Would it be better to provide cooling stations in every bus stop or prioritize building more apartment complexes?</p>
<p>Yet, communities often debate these points without knowing much about what other places have successfully executed when it comes to policy.</p>
<p>It is also often difficult to compare plans across different communities. Plans can be hundreds of pages long, deterring even the most ardent policy wonk. </p>
<p>To simplify, my team and I often search city plans for specific terms like “racism.” From there, we consider which policies are proposed, over what time frame, by which staff and with what funding to address this issue.</p>
<p>Luckily, computational methods can help us speed-read. To find out how many California cities are addressing environmental justice, we extracted the text from local plans, covering over 8 million words. Then, we created a search engine, <a href="https://plansearch.caes.ucdavis.edu/">PlanSearch</a>, which allows users to find out how many plans use a specific term and locate it within the plan’s maps, images and tables.</p>
<h2>Addressing environmental justice</h2>
<p>We found that only three of California’s 482 cities – Milpitas, San Luis Obispo and La Mesa – mention the term “<a href="https://plansearch.caes.ucdavis.edu/results/?query=racism">racism</a>” in their city plans.</p>
<p>By comparison, 360 cities’ plans mention the term “golf.”</p>
<p>I think that actively planning for golf more often than the problems of racism, toxic exposure or segregation reveals just how much more work there is to do in California and elsewhere. </p>
<p>Of course, including the exact term “racism” in city plans is not the only way to address underlying issues. We also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X21995890">searched for synonyms</a>, like segregation, that address environmental justice and anti-racism. </p>
<p>Through this, we uncovered the various ways that some California cities addressed environmental justice.</p>
<p>In just seven cities, including Coachella and Fresno, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2022.2118155">we identified a smorgasbord of 628</a> related policies.</p>
<p>National City, for example, focused on promoting healthy diets by placing new corner stores and grocery stores in lower-income neighborhoods. Cities located in more rural or agricultural areas – like Arvin and Woodland – plan for housing for farm workers near public transit to be developed over the next five to 10 years. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the answer to how cities can plan to be anti-racist, address health equity or promote environmental justice rests with concerned constituents and council members crafting a feasible plan of action. What is considered feasible often hinges on what has been piloted to success in similar communities. No matter the topic, reading and comparing plans helps give those concerned constituents somewhere to start the discussion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209667/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Brinkley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An analysis by scholars at the University of California, Davis showed that just a small number of cities in California actively consider racism when developing their plans.Catherine Brinkley, Associate Professor of Human Ecology, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2106922023-08-06T08:46:58Z2023-08-06T08:46:58ZGhana’s housing policy and regulation is failing - COVID proved as much<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540659/original/file-20230802-23-ctgz3u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Affordable housing in Ghana is unavailable for most people</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Access to decent housing is a fundamental human right. Across sub-Saharan Africa, however, this right remains an elusive <a href="https://theconversation.com/inequality-in-access-to-basic-services-is-a-major-problem-in-sub-saharan-africa-but-progress-is-being-made-192884">dream</a> for many households. </p>
<p>In Ghana, for example, <a href="https://www.mwh.gov.gh/reduction-in-national-housing-deficit-reassuring-to-addressing-housing-challenges/">the government estimates a staggering deficit of 1.8 million homes</a>. Many households don’t get basic services either: 28.6% rely on wells for water, over a third use public latrines and <a href="https://www.statsghana.gov.gh/gssmain/fileUpload/pressrelease/GLSS7%20MAIN%20REPORT_FINAL.pdf">one in ten dispose of waste indiscriminately</a>. </p>
<p>Ghana’s housing market suffers from inadequate regulation. Landlords often demand <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10901-021-09926-w">exorbitant rents</a> of 2-5 years in advance, even for poor accommodation. Both first-time and regular tenants save over <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511482.2020.1782451">seven months of their incomes</a> to raise the advance rent. The burden of unaffordable housing weighs heavily on renters of all income levels. </p>
<p>Against this backdrop, the March 2020 <a href="https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2020/03/ghana-authorities-impose-lockdown-on-two-regions-due-to-covid-19-from-march-30-update-3">announcement</a> of a lockdown in the Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi metropolitan areas due to the COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns about how households would cope. </p>
<p>We are urban and housing studies scholars who research issues of housing in Ghana. Immediately after the lockdown restrictions were lifted, we conducted a study to explore how housing characteristics and households’ circumstances affected adherence to COVID-19 health and safety protocols in Kumasi, Ghana. We <a href="https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/api/core/bitstreams/ef0d8975-988f-45d7-8743-804c0e67fdb6/content">found</a> that residents struggled to comply with the lockdown in their homes. The reasons they gave included lack of access to sanitation, ventilation and space. We propose the formulation of a pro-poor housing policy and enforcement of provisions in both the existing Rent Act and the Building Code to prevent landlords from charging rent advance beyond six months, and compel landlords to provide toilets in all habitable dwellings, respectively. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-accra-tackled-complex-challenges-in-an-urban-slum-144239">How Accra tackled complex challenges in an urban slum</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Findings</h2>
<p>We conducted interviews with 27 household heads across eight suburbs in Greater Kumasi. The Ashanti region, with Kumasi as its capital, has the highest proportion of compound houses in Ghana <a href="https://www.statsghana.gov.gh/gssmain/fileUpload/pressrelease/GLSS7%20MAIN%20REPORT_FINAL.pdf">(62.8% against a national average of 57.3%)</a>. Compound houses refer to a traditional form of housing where multiple dwelling units, typically single rooms and/or chamber and hall arrangements, are grouped together in a single or multi-storey building. These units are organised in two main layouts: single-banked, where the units surround an open courtyard, and double-banked, also known as “face me I face you”, where units are situated on both sides of a common lobby, with the courtyard at the rear. The courtyard serves as a significant space for social interactions and inter-household activities. Households within the compound share common facilities such as toilets, kitchens, drying lines, water, and electricity meters. The sharing of toilets and bathrooms raised concerns during the lockdown. </p>
<p>The areas studied were Old Tafo, Kentinkrono, Manhyia, Adiebeba, Santase, Kwadaso, Deduako and Appiadu. We selected these areas because of their different characteristics and prevalence of traditional family homes, which are <a href="https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/api/core/bitstreams/89d06a86-7ab5-4bf1-94fe-c0937fc2b585/content">collectively owned and occupied by between 10 and 15 households</a>. Additionally, we sought expert insights from five housing professionals representing the Ghana Institute of Architects, Rent Control Department, Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, and the Ministry of Works and Housing.</p>
<p>Our study uncovered realities that hindered households’ ability to comply with COVID-19 protocols during the lockdown. And even after the pandemic, what we’ve learnt can be used to address Ghana’s housing crisis.</p>
<p><strong>Lack of water</strong>: People living in compound houses disconnected from public water mains were unable to benefit from the government’s suspension of water tariff payments. They had to buy water from commercial vendors for essential activities. Cooking, bathing and laundry left little water for regular hand-washing.</p>
<p><strong>Inadequate sanitation</strong>: The absence of toilet facilities in some compound houses forced households, including children, to rely on public toilets. This increased their potential exposure to the coronavirus as they queued to use these facilities.</p>
<p><strong>Poor ventilation</strong>: Being confined to the house during the lockdown was uncomfortable where ventilation was poor. Some homes had small, blocked and poorly oriented windows. Cooking within confined spaces, such as terraces or porches, made it worse for some people, and increased the risk of virus transmission.</p>
<p><strong>Limited space for isolation</strong>: Some households were compelled to share rooms with family members who had contracted the virus because there were no spare rooms. Inability to isolate increased the risk of infection among household members.</p>
<p><strong>Distracting work environment</strong>: Some formal sector workers such as consultants and teachers had to work from home. They faced challenges such as a distracting environment, lack of suitable work spaces, and unreliable internet connectivity.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/policymakers-have-a-lot-to-learn-from-slum-dwellers-an-accra-case-study-96940">Policymakers have a lot to learn from slum dwellers: an Accra case study</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Our research underscores the urgent need for policy changes and regulation to tackle Ghana’s housing crisis.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/9e8ee939-9d1b-4e79-ad20-1130f46282ba">seminar</a> involving policymakers and stakeholders in Ghana’s housing sector yielded a consensus that housing policy and supply should put the needs of the poor first. Poor households found it difficult to comply with the COVID-19 protocols. The existing <a href="https://www.mwh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/national_housing_policy_2015-1.pdf">pro-market housing policy</a> does not help the poor to get decent accommodation.</p>
<p>Regulation should focus not only on the advance rent period but also on the provision of basic facilities. Toilets and bathrooms should be provided before properties are rented. The ongoing pilot of the <a href="https://www.nras.gov.gh/how-it-works">National Rental Assistance Scheme</a> is a start. This involves the government paying the rent advance on behalf of renters and receiving payback in the form of monthly loan payments. It presents an opportunity to ensure landlords can benefit from the scheme only if their rented properties meet these basic sanitary requirements and are decently equipped.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/510751563906548492/pdf/Building-the-Market-for-Urban-Sanitation-in-Ghana.pdf">affordable toilet programme</a> in which local authorities, with support from the World Bank, build decent toilet facilities for households should be extended beyond the Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi areas. Poorer households could be offered flexible payment arrangements so they could participate. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cities-are-central-to-our-future-they-have-the-power-to-make-or-break-societys-advances-207317">Cities are central to our future – they have the power to make, or break, society's advances</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We also propose a rethink of house design, construction materials and their sourcing. The growing preference for imported construction materials, such as doors, windows and roofing, without considering local weather conditions increases the cost of construction and can result in unpleasant housing conditions such as excessive space heating. Thus it is crucial to initiate a conversation about sustainable and context-specific housing design, and use of local construction materials.</p>
<p>The housing crisis in Ghana demands immediate action. Our research highlights the underlying issues of inadequate housing, limited access to basic services, and the unequal burden borne by the poor. As Ghana navigates the path to recovery from the pandemic, it should seize this opportunity to transform Ghana’s housing landscape to ensure most if not all households have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richmond Juvenile Ehwi receives funding from the UKRI All Councils Harmonised Rapid Response Grant for the Impact Activity based on which this article is written. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lewis Abedi Asante does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ghana’s housing deficit needs immediate attention.Richmond Juvenile Ehwi, Research Associate, University of CambridgeLewis Abedi Asante, Lecturer, Kumasi Technical UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2008422023-03-06T15:01:22Z2023-03-06T15:01:22ZThe real Johannesburg: 6 powerful photos from a gritty new book on the city<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513197/original/file-20230302-29-6rlu6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An abandoned gold mine in Johannesburg, South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/wake-up-this-is-joburg">Wake Up, This is Joburg</a> is a collaboration between photographer Mark Lewis and urban planner and writer Tanya Zack. Striking images and beautiful texts follow 10 stories the team discovered in urban Johannesburg, South Africa. Each chapter captures many overlapping stories that come together around a character, a place or an activity. The book is an ethnographic portrait of one of Africa’s most vibrant and intriguing cities. We asked for the stories behind six of its images.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>1. Chopping s'kop</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Several men chop and handle meat on makeshift tables, animal parts strewn on the floor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chopping cowheads in Kazerne parking garage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The most marginal of the activities and spaces the stories explore is the informal butchers who chop up cow heads in a disused parking garage in the heart of the inner city. The condemned building is next to formal structures and within view of banking head offices. </p>
<p>The cow heads, or s'kop, are bought for R10 (US$0.55) each by nearby formal butcheries and delivered to them in shopping trolleys. Every part is sold in this marginal economy. Flesh is stripped off the skull, bones are taken to be crushed for bone meal, and skins enter a unique processing operation in invisible spaces in the city and transformed into an edible form. </p>
<p>Andile Nkomo from KwaZulu-Natal province is the most muscular of the six butchers on the day we first visit and, we soon discover, the most active. But he admits his output varies. On mornings after he’s worked as a bouncer at a <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/africa/south-africa/articles/10-things-to-know-about-hillbrow-johannesburgs-notorious-neighbourhood/">Hillbrow</a> nightclub, he is not in peak form. “On a good day I chop 60 heads,” he says as he slams his axe repeatedly into skulls on the wooden industrial cable spool that is the butchers’ block.</p>
<h2>2. Breakfast on the run</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman stands in a dark space under a bridge in a beam of bright light, taking bread from a bag behind a table used for food preparation." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Monica Chauke serves customised breakfasts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Competition within the informal economy is tight. At the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-minibus-taxi-industry-has-been-marginalised-for-too-long-this-must-change-142060">minibus taxi</a> binding point Zola, micro-entrepreneurs offer barber services and sell food, snacks, socks, window wipers, mobile phone accessories and bumper stickers.</p>
<p>Stallholder Monica Chauke, originally from Limpopo province, is unperturbed by the competition for the appetites of the 600 taxi drivers. She knows that by midday she will have sold out of her unique offering and made her US$16 daily profit. Her niche is simple: she serves only breakfast. But there’s nothing simple about it. Monica has, over four years, worked out who likes what and caters to the specific tastes of her customers. This means making six egg-and-tomato, three cheese-and-tomato and four chicken-mayonnaise sandwiches, as well as six cheeseburgers each morning. And baking scones, frying balls of dough called <a href="https://theculturecook.com/recipe-afrikaner-vetkoek.html">vetkoek</a>, preparing a soup of beans and bones and making a meat stew. Her commitment to providing variety no matter how small the quantity has earned her loyal customers.</p>
<p>Monica wakes at 2am to prepare and package the food and the equipment she brings here. “I want to work here because no one is controlling me. It’s for myself,” she says. “My boyfriend brings and fetches me each day.” In his car? “No, in my car. He drives it.”</p>
<h2>3. Bed room</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An older woman rests in bed, looking directly at the camera without smiling, papers stuck to the wall above her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Birthial Gxaleka runs a shelter in a one-bedroom apartment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From her bed in a small Hillbrow apartment, Birthial Gxaleka – a nurse from the Eastern Cape province – runs a non-governmental organisation and shelter. Her tenants share her one-bedroomed space, sleeping and living on a large raft of beds that leaves only a narrow corridor of standing room. At any one time, there are up to 34 residents, because it is rare for Birthial to turn anyone away. </p>
<p>Each person wants to make their way in the world: find a job, reconnect with lost family, get access to healthcare or simply secure a decent place to sleep. </p>
<p>In the inner city’s high-rise flatland, at human densities 10 times greater than Hong Kong, people find ways to get on with things.</p>
<h2>4. Under the city</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with a spry expression leans against a broken balustrade, his tattered clothes covered in dust." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nandos Simao digs for gold in abandoned mines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“This park is closed until further notice. Entry strictly forbidden.” This is the sign at the entrance to the place where the metal that would make this the wealthiest gold-producing city on the planet was <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Johannesburg-South-Africa/History">first discovered</a>. It does not deter anyone. Least of all those with the grit to seek a living or a fortune in the abandoned mine shafts of the Witwatersrand reef.</p>
<p>Known as zama zamas (those who keep trying), they work the dumps and cavities underneath the city. We visit the Langlaagte belt, which contains more unmined gold than any other vein in Johannesburg’s gold reef. They call it FNB (First National Bank). Here zama zamas of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicity use the same ancient pick and shovel method to wrestle with the rock face. </p>
<p>It is Nandos Simao, leaning in elegant repose against the remains of a concrete wall, who catches our attention. The 23-year-old Mozambican lives in the Orange Farm informal settlement with two fellow miners, his cousins. The youngest is 17.</p>
<p>There are many ways to die underground. But it’s a livelihood on which whole settlements depend. Indeed, MaLetsatsi Mamogele is digging for gold under her shack in Fleurhof, a working class suburb west of Johannesburg. </p>
<h2>5. Good riddance</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="In dim light, men pull trolleys with shiny containers loaded with cardboard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lucas Ngwenya recycles cardboard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Young Mozambican Lucas Ngwenya and his two South African friends have lined up. It’s 6am. There’s a cold wind blowing on this open piece of land suspended between the private estate of the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/nicky-oppenheimer/?sh=604e34ce3b93">Oppenheimers</a>, South Africa’s wealthiest family, and the headquarters of Hollard Insurance. It’s 4°C as the men begin their 5km trip to the recycling depot in Newtown to sell the materials they’ve collected from suburban dustbins over a fortnight. It will take two-and-a-half hours to drag their gargantuan loads.</p>
<p>Lucas seemingly has the lightest burden, but points out that the cardboard, which occupies double the capacity of his plastic quilted bag, will weigh in at over 150kg. The plastic bottles and white paper will bring this to 265kg. His body mass is 61kg. When he arrives at the depot he will be asked for R10 “for cool drink” as he cashes in his load. Because, the cashier says, she has been generous with the amounts she has recorded.</p>
<h2>6. Tony dreams in yellow and blue</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A visually rich exterior of a house with vintage cars, a mural of a town near water, a windmill, a statue of a tower, concrete wagon wheels and creepers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tony Martins creates a palace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tony Martins built his first house in Madeira, Portugal, in his early 20s – because his wife’s mother “wouldn’t let me take her until I had a house to live in”. Some 30 years later he’s transforming his modest home in Johannesburg’s “old south” into a veritable castle – using objects he finds at waste dumps. Tony is an outsider artist.</p>
<p>He admits he cannot stop himself. “I sleep for two or three hours, and then I wake and think what else I can do. Then I have to do them in the day.”</p>
<p>The house is a wonder of lights and murals, of manikins in domes and on motorbikes on the roof, of a traffic light and windmill and of multiple staircases with balustrades fashioned from found tennis racquets and bicycle wheels. It is the sort of delightful outcome of a city not intervening in the authentic expression and private worlds that are possible in urban spaces where excess, waste and cosmopolitanism collide.</p>
<p><em>The book is <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/wake-up-this-is-joburg">available</a> from Duke University Press</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200842/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Zack does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From butchers to hawkers, and shelters to miners, this book reveals the informal economy and texture of the city.Tanya Zack, Visiting researcher, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2004022023-03-02T12:39:10Z2023-03-02T12:39:10ZMental health: how living in the city and country compare<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512201/original/file-20230224-844-j2ktnx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C8000%2C4467&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There are many reasons why the place you live may affect your mental health. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/street-sign-direction-way-rural-versus-1502703695">Pixelvario/ Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Is it better to live in a city or in the countryside? While urban dwellers may benefit from more employment opportunities, better access to public services alongside cultural activities and entertainment, people who live in rural areas often argue they have a better sense of community and greater access to nature.</p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/mental-health-how-living-in-the-city-and-country-compare-200402&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>A number of studies have sought to determine whether city or country is better for mental health by drawing on national survey data from the <a href="https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/">UK Household Longitudinal Study</a> (UKHLS). This is a national survey which has followed approximately 40,000 UK households since 2009. Each year, data is collected on a range of social, economic and behavioural factors. </p>
<p>This is what some of these studies have found when it comes to mental health and where you live:</p>
<h2>Physical activity</h2>
<p>Research has shown that physical activity can reduce <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749379719302466?casa_token=_QxDT_feTekAAAAA:Sd_9jfW0ukJY1fUCkUx43sTEGHkNBiwqViPI4-HfSx-LngPhuxBjGMRQrokDmpYlZIwzR7wDzA">anxiety</a> and <a href="https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.17111194">depression</a>, alongside <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00223980.2018.1470487">improving mood</a> and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/tbm/article-abstract/10/5/1098/5921063?login=true">wellbeing</a>. Indeed, UK health guidelines recommend physical activity for the <a href="https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222">treatment of depression</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/physical-activity-guidelines-adults-and-older-adults/physical-activity-for-adults-and-older-adults-19-and-over-text-of-the-infographic">improved quality of life</a>. </p>
<p>One easy way of getting more physical activity in your life is through active travel – such as cycling or walking on your way to work or running errands. </p>
<p>So how does urban or rural dwelling impact on this? According to UKHLS research which looked at data from 35,295 people in the UK, urban residents were 64% more likely than rural residents to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00038-014-0578-2">engage frequently in active travel</a>. This is likely because there are more active travel opportunities in urban environments where there are shorter distances between facilities, shops, offices and homes. </p>
<p>Research shows that the more active travel a person does, the better their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140520300487">mental health</a>. In fact, the mental health benefits of active travel may be <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28153647">just as good</a> as physical activity for leisure. So, based on this measure, people living in the city may have better mental health overall.</p>
<p>But while urban life may offer more opportunities for active travel compared to living in the countryside, that doesn’t mean there aren’t still many ways to incorporate physical activity into your daily life for mental health benefits wherever you live.</p>
<h2>Access to green space</h2>
<p>Access to green space (such as parks) is believed to support many aspects of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44097-3">health and wellbeing</a> – including your <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09638237.2020.1755027?journalCode=ijmh20">mental health</a>. </p>
<p>To investigate whether nearby green space was related to mental wellbeing, data from the 2009-2010 UKHLS study was combined with data on the proportion of green space within different areas of England. The analysis found the amount of local green space did not actually <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-017-4401-x">predict mental wellbeing</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A family walking down a path in the woods." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512191/original/file-20230224-721-x1aikp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512191/original/file-20230224-721-x1aikp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512191/original/file-20230224-721-x1aikp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512191/original/file-20230224-721-x1aikp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512191/original/file-20230224-721-x1aikp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512191/original/file-20230224-721-x1aikp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512191/original/file-20230224-721-x1aikp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Meaningful engagement with green spaces may explain their ability to boost mental health.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/family-walking-on-path-holding-hands-15724291">Monkey Business Images/ Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What this suggests is that while green space may be important for mental wellbeing, having it nearby doesn’t necessarily mean people will engage with it. As such, we can’t assume rural living is inherently more beneficial just because nature is more accessible. </p>
<p>This aligns with the findings of a 2021 study, which showed that living near green space <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-87675-0#Sec2">did not improve mental health outcomes</a>. However, the analysis did find that the more frequently a person visited green spaces, the better their mental wellbeing. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439760.2016.1221126">Meaningful engagement with green spaces</a> (such as taking photographs) may also be more important for reaping the mental health benefits of nature.</p>
<p>As such, urban living may be just as good as rural dwelling when it comes to the mental health benefits of green space. </p>
<h2>Air quality</h2>
<p>Numerous studies have found links between high levels of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6447209/">air pollution</a> and <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/exposure-to-air-pollution-linked-with-increased-mental-health-service-use-new-study-finds">poorer mental health</a>. A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161813X22001668?via%253Dihub">review of 111 studies</a> even suggests that polluted air may cause changes in the brain regions that control emotions. This may increase the risk of developing anxiety and depression compared to those who breathe cleaner air. </p>
<p>To investigate the impact of air pollution on mental health, researchers combined data on air pollution from the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with UKHLS survey data, alongside data from the British Household Panel Survey (which looked at 10,000 UK households and ran from 1991 to 2009). This allowed them to analyse data from the years 1991-2014. </p>
<p>The analysis found that people who were exposed to higher levels of air pollution reported lower levels of <a href="https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/research/publications/524260">life satisfaction</a>. The study indicated that the negative effect of air pollution on life satisfaction can be equivalent to major life events, such as divorce. </p>
<p>In general, urban areas have between <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanplh/PIIS2542-5196(21)00255-2.pdf">two to four times the levels of air pollution</a> than rural areas, suggesting people who live in cities may be more likely to experience worse mental health as a result. However, the agricultural industry also generates <a href="https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/aqeg/2800829_Agricultural_emissions_vfinal2.pdf">high levels of air pollution</a> meaning some rural dwellers in certain settings may also be at risk.</p>
<h2>Regional variation in wellbeing</h2>
<p>Of course, these are just a few of the factors that affect a person’s day to day mental health – and it appears neither city nor country living is significantly better than the other when it comes to your mental health.</p>
<p>Indeed, research has found that the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00343404.2019.1645953?needAccess=true">region of the country</a> you live in may be more important when it comes to your mental health than whether you live in the city or the countryside. There are many factors that may explain this effect, including the cost of living in certain areas, alongside local politics and a person’s economic status.</p>
<p>Where we live is clearly very important when it comes to our mental health. But the place that works best for your mental health will depend largely on broader social and economic factors as well as which aspects of your lifestyle are most important to you.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200402/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Wicks receives funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan McPherson receives funding from National Institute for Health and Care Research.</span></em></p>City living and country living both have their benefits and downsides when it comes to mental health.Claire Wicks, Senior Research Assistant, University of EssexSusan McPherson, Professor in Psychology and Sociology, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1957962022-12-18T13:16:49Z2022-12-18T13:16:49ZWhy some people choose to live the nomadic van lifestyle<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500826/original/file-20221213-22773-agowbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C29%2C3982%2C2634&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">By living a simple life that is fully contained in a vehicle, van dwellers are able to head out on a new adventure whenever they choose.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the movie <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sxCFZ8_d84"><em>Nomadland</em></a> revealed to the world, ever since the 2008 financial collapse, people have moved into vehicles as a way of surviving the high cost of living. The pandemic also <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7938802/van-life-digital-nomad/">fuelled an increase in the nomadic lifestyle</a>.</p>
<p>In 2020, my co-researcher Scott Rankin and I looked at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-02-2020-0029">how people who live in vehicles balance work and life</a>. In doing so, we discovered that these people were able to <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-some-workers-are-opting-to-live-in-their-vans-148961">achieve harmony between work and non-work</a> by coordinating the movement of their van with their work life.</p>
<p>This year, I continued this research to better understand why people live this way. After living in a van and touring the southern United States to meet with people who live in vehicles, I have just completed the preliminary analysis of surveys answering who and why people live this nomadic lifestyle. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-all-nomadland-how-vanlife-made-mobile-living-a-middle-class-aspiration-180876">It's not all nomadland: how #vanlife made mobile living a middle-class aspiration</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These surveys were voluntarily completed by those living in vehicles — most permanently, some seasonally. The findings provide interesting insights not just into who or why people live in vehicles, but also the adventurous nature of those who choose to live this way.</p>
<h2>Who lives in vehicles?</h2>
<p>Everywhere I went in California and Arizona, I saw <a href="https://www.pacificresearch.org/thousands-of-californians-live-out-of-their-cars-now-what/">people living in their vehicles</a>. Sometimes they were hidden in plain sight, parked beside a park in San Francisco or in a neighbourhood in San Diego. Other times, they congregated in huge convoys, in places like <a href="https://cheaprvliving.com/7-reasons-nomads-should-winter-in-quartzsite-and-3-reasons-you-might-not-want-to/">Quartzsite, Ariz.</a></p>
<p>People of all ages and genders take part in van living. My survey found that women were just as likely as men to live in vans. Of the 85 responses to the question of gender, 53 per cent were women and 47 per cent were men. </p>
<p>The average age of van dwellers was 42. In addition to young people living in vehicles, there was an equal proportion of retirees choosing to live in vehicles. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An older adult couple sit on the side of their van and clink their coffee mugs together" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500827/original/file-20221213-22019-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500827/original/file-20221213-22019-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500827/original/file-20221213-22019-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500827/original/file-20221213-22019-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500827/original/file-20221213-22019-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500827/original/file-20221213-22019-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500827/original/file-20221213-22019-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People of all ages and genders live the nomadic van lifestyle. For retirees, vehicle living allows them to stretch the value of their limited retirement savings or income.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why do people live in vans?</h2>
<p>After asking respondents to rank the reasons why they chose to live in a vehicle, ranked from top to bottom are: 1) freedom, 2) low cost of living, 3) adventure, 4) connection to nature, 5) minimalism, 6) avoiding undesirable weather, 7) starting a new life, 8) pursuing work in different places, 9) working remotely, 10) to be on their own, 11) to join a partner or 12) to leave a partner.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A yellow van parked on an escarpment road overlooking a large body of water" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499369/original/file-20221206-5419-wbh1kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499369/original/file-20221206-5419-wbh1kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499369/original/file-20221206-5419-wbh1kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499369/original/file-20221206-5419-wbh1kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499369/original/file-20221206-5419-wbh1kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499369/original/file-20221206-5419-wbh1kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499369/original/file-20221206-5419-wbh1kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A van overlooking the coast in Big Sur, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Angus Duff)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Above all else, vehicle dwellers sought to be free. Whether they were a retiree in a $100,000 Mercedes van, or <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8964324/canadians-convert-vans-into-homes-to-overcome-9-to-5-grind/">young Canadians working from a $5,000 van</a>, respondents wanted to be able to move their home to wherever was best for them.</p>
<p>For some, vehicle-living provided a way to survive while minimizing the cost of living was the second reason why respondents chose to live in a vehicle. As one respondent said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“As a millennial, the cost of living has significantly increased since previous generations, yet wages have for the most part stayed the same.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>For others, living in a vehicle minimized their costs, allowed them to work less or allowed them to make the most of their income without paying rent. For retirees, vehicle living provided an opportunity for them to stretch the value of their limited retirement savings or income.</p>
<p>The following three reasons — adventure, connection to nature and minimalism — suggest that people who live in vehicles value an adventurous, outdoor lifestyle. Van living allows them to act on this desire and be in nature whenever they want. </p>
<p>By living a simple life that is fully contained in a vehicle — the essence of minimalism — van dwellers are able to head out on a new adventure whenever they choose. Being able to pack up and move somewhere new also connects back to the number one reason many live in vans: freedom.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A parking lot full of vans with palm trees visible in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499370/original/file-20221206-21-s7pg7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499370/original/file-20221206-21-s7pg7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499370/original/file-20221206-21-s7pg7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499370/original/file-20221206-21-s7pg7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499370/original/file-20221206-21-s7pg7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499370/original/file-20221206-21-s7pg7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499370/original/file-20221206-21-s7pg7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A parking lot full of vans in San Diego, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Angus Duff)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The sixth reason for living in a vehicle was to avoid undesirable weather. Many of the people I spoke to lived a truly nomadic life, living in northern states or Canada for half the year, working off the land in tourism or agriculture, and then moving south in the winter to avoid the cold by living and working in Arizona or Southern California.</p>
<p>Living in a vehicle allowed workers to move with the weather as a way of taking advantage of work opportunities, without the need for winter clothing or shelter. As long as the temperature stayed comfortably above freezing, they were able to sleep comfortably without needing a furnace — just a little extra bedding on cold nights.</p>
<h2>Is this just a fad?</h2>
<p>These preliminary results confirm that, for many, the decision to live in a vehicle is a choice with the goal of being free, self-sufficient and having the ability to live how and where they want. The results also suggest that van living is a lifestyle that is not limited by gender or age, but instead is a viable alternative for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/sep/13/what-i-learned-from-living-five-years-in-a-van">those who seek a more affordable and less constrained</a> living option. </p>
<p>And as it turns out, <a href="https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/housing/being-a-bc-vanlifer-is-more-than-a-tiktok-trend-its-a-lifestyle-4758478">van living is not a fad</a>. While many respondents were new to van living, on average, respondents indicated they had been living in a vehicle, full or part-time, for an average of 2.5 years. </p>
<p>Seventy-eight per cent of respondents permanently lived in a vehicle, while 22 per cent owned or rented a home and periodically travelled in a van or motorhome. From my conversations with van dwellers, most of this latter category were retirees who lived in their residence up north for most of the year, then travelled south to live in their vehicle for the winter months.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://theconversation.com/long-term-renters-evicted-during-housing-boom-face-homelessness-191316">the housing crisis deepens</a>, we may see more people embrace van living as a means of surviving the high cost of living. It will be up to cities and government to accept this alternative living arrangement, and consider having parking and facilities to support those who choose to live this way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195796/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angus Duff receives funding from the Bob Gaglardi School of Business and Economics, Thompson Rivers University.</span></em></p>For some people, the decision to live in a vehicle is a choice with the goal of being free and self-sufficient to live how and where they want.Angus J Duff, Associate Professor, Human Resources, Thompson Rivers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1840792022-07-05T09:04:51Z2022-07-05T09:04:51ZCities: how urban design can make people less likely to use public spaces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471166/original/file-20220627-24-rujbd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C0%2C4618%2C3055&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We only feel free to use spaces that we can identify with. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-man-back-flip-parkour-urban-648917863">Vagengeim | Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Urban beautification campaigns are usually sold to local residents as a way to improve <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43028866">their daily lives</a>. Design elements – from lighting systems to signs, benches, bollards, fountains and planters, and sometimes even surveillance equipment – are used to refurbish and embellish public spaces. </p>
<p>Designers refer to these elements as “urban furniture”. And the projects they’re used in are usually aimed at increasing social interaction, heightening safety, improving accessibility and generally making life in the city better.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.03.004">Some research argues</a>, however, that such <a href="https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/21226980/2019.09.09_PhD_thesis_JALH_.pdf">beautification campaigns can result</a> in public urban spaces becoming <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330910459_Temporary_Appropriation_of_Public_Space_As_an_Emergence_Assemblage_for_the_Future_Urban_Landscape_The_Case_of_Mexico_City">more exclusive</a>. Despite the promises with which they are marketed, if these projects <a href="https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/en/publications/temporary-appropriation-of-cities-human-spatialisation-in-public-">disregard what local people need</a>, they can feel less able, or willing, to make use of these spaces.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An urban canal pathway seen at sunset." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471146/original/file-20220627-23-615e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cheonggyecheon canal, in Seoul, South Korea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/oct-27-2013-seoul-south-korea-1151130620">PixHound | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cities aren’t only identified by their monuments or signature buildings. You can tell New York City and Palermo apart just by looking at what people are doing in public. A New York scene is more likely to feature someone on a skateboard eating a burrito, while a Palermo image might include a group of men in a street watching a football match on television through a shop window. </p>
<p>Urban space is where city children learn and play, students read and people work, walk and relax. It is through these different activities that any single city’s urban culture is created. </p>
<p>Quite what city spaces <a href="https://theconversation.com/sunshine-coast-shows-the-way-to-create-good-design-loved-by-communities-and-put-an-end-to-eyesores-140348">look like</a> is down to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334374615_Urban_Design_and_Urbanism">urban design</a>, a powerful tool. </p>
<p>Architects, infrastructural and spatial designers carefully configure the built environment – the constructed fabric of our cities – and this has a lasting <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/83937579.pdf">effect</a> on how we use or inhabit them.</p>
<p>In cities around the globe – from Algiers, Auckland and Chicago to Hanoi, <a href="http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S0188-25032015000100001&script=sci_abstract">Mexico City</a> and Seoul – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.03.004">research shows</a> that transforming public spaces <a href="https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/21226980/2019.09.09_PhD_thesis_JALH_.pdf">markedly affects</a> the diversity of what people do in them, and whether they use them. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.journalpublicspace.org/index.php/jps/article/view/1254/767">In Algiers</a>, the Algerian capital, neighbourhoods were formally designed in the 1970s in a rigid modernist style. Design elements including shady trees, benches and lights at night made people feel comfortable carrying out activities such as playing cards or gathering to chat, but huge buildings, wide streets and large spaces also caused people to feel insecure and <a href="https://www.journalpublicspace.org/index.php/jps/article/view/1254">lost</a>.
Further, the land was landscaped in the kind of homogenous way characteristic of other big cities including Los Angeles, Auckland and Sydney. These <a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/place-and-placelessness/book249276">large-scale and non-contextual</a> designs have also been linked to antisocial behaviour.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330910459_Temporary_Appropriation_of_Public_Space_As_an_Emergence_Assemblage_for_the_Future_Urban_Landscape_The_Case_of_Mexico_City">Research</a> conducted in the historic <a href="http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0188-70172013000200003">Alameda Central Park</a> neighbourhood of <a href="http://www.ub.edu/geocrit/coloquio2014/Victor%20Delgadillo.pdf">Mexico City</a> highlight similar patterns of <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-planning-as-a-tool-of-white-supremacy-the-other-lesson-from-minneapolis-142249">exclusion</a> caused by how a neighbourhood was redesigned. </p>
<p>After the area was transformed in 2013, there was a notable decline in the diversity of the activities people undertook there (family and religious gatherings; street art; music; informal vendors). Instead, the law now prioritises touristic activity over local people’s everyday needs and allows the authorities to operate a zero-tolerance approach towards anything deemed disruptive. Vendors have become nomadic, packing up and hiding as soon as the police are nearby. </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/progressingplanning/2021/11/29/claiming-their-right-to-the-city-resisting-redevelopment-induced-gentrification-in-seoul-korea/">Cheonggyecheon-Euljiro area</a> of Seoul, South Korea, meanwhile, redevelopment led to 50-year-old workshops being torn down. This in turn has threatened the historical and cultural values of the local population and disrupted social networks.</p>
<h2>How cities are co-created</h2>
<p>In his 1968 book, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328491674_Henri_Lefebvre_and_the_Right_to_the_City">The Right to the City</a>, the French Marxist philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre described the city as a co-created space. This contrasts with the more capitalist definition in which urban space is <a href="https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/217887/1/217887.pdf">a commodity</a> to be bought and sold, Lefebvre saw it as a meeting place where citizens collectively built urban life. </p>
<p>This idea that public space is a public good that belongs to everybody has been increasingly challenged in recent years, with the rise of <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/art-architecture-design/you-cant-sit-us-rise-privately-owned-public-spaces">privately owned public space</a>. Most of the parks in London (roughly 42 kilometres squared) of green space in total) are owned by the City of London Corporation, the municipal body that governs the City of London, but increasingly squares within new developments are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jul/24/revealed-pseudo-public-space-pops-london-investigation-map">owned by corporations</a>. </p>
<p>Urban theorists have long noted the connection between how a city is designed and how life is conducted within it. The US scholar <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/11/the-prophecies-of-jane-jacobs/501104/">Jane Jacobs</a> is famous for highlighting that cities fail when they are not designed for everyone. And Danish architect <a href="https://gehlpeople.com/">Jan Gehl</a>’s output has consistently focused on what he has termed the “life between buildings”. </p>
<p>As Gehl <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL_RYm8zs28">has explained</a>, for a city to be good to its residents, those in charge of designing it have to be aware of how it is being used: what people are doing in its spaces. To be successful, urban designs have to be focused on and geared towards people’s daily lives. Gehl has explained that designing a city for pedestrians – at a walkable scale – is how you make it healthy, sustainable, lively and attractive.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KL_RYm8zs28?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>When we use public spaces, even if only on a short-term basis, we are effectively <a href="https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/temporaryappropriation(62a30252-cbb1-457a-b751-52b66176d8d7).html">appropriating them</a>: <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-32120-8">urban designers</a> and <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429331701-19/understanding-temporary-appropriation-streetscape-design-antonio-lara-hernandez-yazid-khemri-alessandro-melis">architects</a> talk about <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-32120-8">“temporary appropriation”</a> to describe the individual or group activities with which we invest these spaces. </p>
<p>Research has also highlighted how <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.71417!/file/7woolley.pdf">democratic</a> this can be. But it is contingent on those spaces being designed in consort with residents. When a public space, by contrast, is overly designed without people’s needs being taken into account, it does not get used.</p>
<p>Since the 1970s, urban theorists <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000055743">have highlighted</a> that we only make use of those public spaces where we feel <a href="https://core.ac.uk/reader/82653560">represented</a>. For urban design to work, paying heed to <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-give-people-a-greater-say-in-their-cities-62672">what local people actually think</a> of their city is crucial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184079/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cities are defined as much by their buildings as what people do in between them. Designing them comes with great responsibility.Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez, Senior Researcher in Architecture, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1696872022-01-04T02:35:02Z2022-01-04T02:35:02ZBike kitchens: the community-run repair workshops that help build a culture of cycling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429257/original/file-20211029-26-1nkvavl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C36%2C4904%2C3382&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Batterbury</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cycling <a href="https://www.bikeradar.com/features/long-reads/cycling-environmental-impact/">reduces greenhouse gas emissions</a>, brings myriad <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/9/2021-report-mja-lancet-countdown-health-and-climate-change-australia?utm_source=carousel&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=homepage">health benefits</a> and reduces traffic. But urban planners and policymakers often struggle to get more people on bikes.</p>
<p>To increase urban cycling, we need more than extra cycling infrastructure; we need a culture change. A worldwide movement of community bike workshops, also known as bike kitchens, can help.</p>
<p>Bike kitchens offer tools, second hand parts and bikes, and convivial help with repairs. They are also hubs for community development. </p>
<p>Since 2014 we have <a href="https://bikeworkshopsresearch.wordpress.com/workshops-visited/">visited over 50</a> bike kitchens around the world – in the US, Australia, NZ, UK, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Mexico and Belgium to research how they operate. We have also volunteered and led student projects at several workshops. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429242/original/file-20211029-25-1u7otmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman repairs a bike." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429242/original/file-20211029-25-1u7otmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429242/original/file-20211029-25-1u7otmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429242/original/file-20211029-25-1u7otmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429242/original/file-20211029-25-1u7otmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429242/original/file-20211029-25-1u7otmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429242/original/file-20211029-25-1u7otmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429242/original/file-20211029-25-1u7otmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bike kitchens offer tools, second hand parts and bikes, and convivial help with repairs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Building a culture of cycling</h2>
<p>Dedicated bike lanes, road treatments and bike parking are relatively cheap to build and maintain compared to roads, car parks, and major public transport schemes. There is <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/cycling-sustainable-cities">some correlation</a> between better bike infrastructure and more riders. </p>
<p>But better infrastructure alone does not solve the problem. In Paris, with its pro-bike mayor and traffic calming initiatives, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/02/world/europe/paris-bicyles-france.html">a recent explosion in bike use</a> has led to accidents and clashes, suggesting other factors like social acceptance and up-skilling need attention. </p>
<p>In lockdown this year, Sydney experienced a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/31/spike-in-cycling-accidents-during-sydney-lockdown-as-more-people-took-to-two-wheels">78% increase in cycling injuries</a> when more people took to their bikes. </p>
<p>Cycling in cities is a <a href="https://www.simonbatterbury.net/pubs/sociality%20of%20cycling%20preprint.pdf">social practice</a>, and building a <em>culture</em> of cycling is essential – especially where bike use has traditionally been low. </p>
<p>It’s essential to cycling culture that a critical mass of people have riding and bike maintenance skills, and the activity is more socially accepted.</p>
<p>That’s where bike kitchens come in.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429258/original/file-20211029-23-1tkvrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429258/original/file-20211029-23-1tkvrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429258/original/file-20211029-23-1tkvrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429258/original/file-20211029-23-1tkvrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429258/original/file-20211029-23-1tkvrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429258/original/file-20211029-23-1tkvrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429258/original/file-20211029-23-1tkvrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429258/original/file-20211029-23-1tkvrgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">WeCycle, a workshop in Gumbri Park, Melbourne gives free bikes to asylum seekers, refugees, and people in need.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Batterbury</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Convivial places to build and repair a bike</h2>
<p>Bike kitchen workshops are initiated and run by activists and socially-minded cyclists. Most teach hands-on <a href="http://modularbikes.com.au/thecyclezoo.html">self-repair and maintenance</a> skills to people who want to learn. Others give away free bikes to those who need them.</p>
<p>Workshops extend the use life of bicycles and components. They are part of the <a href="https://www.communityeconomies.org/">community economy</a> and interrupt the waste stream; most parts come from donated or scavenged bikes and are re-used creatively and cheaply with a DIY ethos, avoiding new consumption. </p>
<p>Some bikes may be sold to support ongoing workshop costs, but rarely for high prices. </p>
<p>Workshops numbers have grown since the 1990s, and are widespread across Europe, the <a href="https://en.bikebike.org/">Americas</a>, Australasia and the rest of the world.</p>
<p>The largest concentration is in France. Most are networked through <a href="https://www.heureux-cyclage.org/?lang=en">l'Heureux Cyclage</a>, which coordinates events, logistics, and learning between 250 workshops, assisting well over 110,000 people yearly. </p>
<p>Brussels has at least 18, like <a href="https://cycloperativa.org/">Cycloperativa</a>, spread across the city’s <em>arrondissements</em>. </p>
<p>Ten bike workshops operate in Austria, with at least four in Vienna. They include <a href="http://flickerei.blogsport.at/">Flickerei</a> and <a href="http://fahrrad.wuk.at/">WUK</a> which, established in 1983, is probably the world’s oldest.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-analysed-100-million-bike-trips-to-reveal-where-in-the-world-cyclists-are-most-likely-to-brave-rain-and-cold-166894">We analysed 100 million bike trips to reveal where in the world cyclists are most likely to brave rain and cold</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429248/original/file-20211029-18-1f92h2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman and a man work together on a bike." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429248/original/file-20211029-18-1f92h2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429248/original/file-20211029-18-1f92h2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429248/original/file-20211029-18-1f92h2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429248/original/file-20211029-18-1f92h2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429248/original/file-20211029-18-1f92h2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429248/original/file-20211029-18-1f92h2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429248/original/file-20211029-18-1f92h2a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workshops extend the use life of bicycles and components.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How bike kitchens work</h2>
<p>There are two main types of bike kitchens: </p>
<p>1) places where tools, parts and bike stands are offered for anybody to use, assisted by workshop volunteers and sometimes by paid mechanics. Most are social enterprises or non-profits, promoting what’s known in French as <em>vélonomie</em>: the ability of a cyclist to maintain a bicycle and ride safely and with confidence. </p>
<p>2) those that fix bikes for others – often for the disadvantaged – such as <a href="http://www.wecycle-melbourne.com/">WeCycle</a> in <a href="https://www.racv.com.au/royalauto/transport/bike-repair-community-victoria.html">Melbourne</a> which offers bikes to refugees and asylum seekers. <a href="https://workingbikes.org">Working Bikes</a> in Chicago sends bikes to the Global South.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-australia-can-learn-from-bicycle-friendly-cities-overseas-144283">What Australia can learn from bicycle-friendly cities overseas</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428122/original/file-20211024-21-m32uqd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428122/original/file-20211024-21-m32uqd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428122/original/file-20211024-21-m32uqd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428122/original/file-20211024-21-m32uqd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428122/original/file-20211024-21-m32uqd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428122/original/file-20211024-21-m32uqd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428122/original/file-20211024-21-m32uqd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428122/original/file-20211024-21-m32uqd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Récup'R in its former premises in Bordeaux, France.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Batterbury</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are often <a href="https://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2019/02/n-bicas-wtf?fbclid=IwAR0HLBMrFnZpuI544-15XJWLesi_KDU86RRLgh4CcCixsGXuPsgg22lFtxU">fixing sessions</a> and other activities for specific ages, <a href="https://www.heureux-cyclage.org/panorama-2019-des-ateliers-velo-en.html?lang=fr">genders</a> and groups. At one of the oldest French bike workshops, <em><a href="http://www.ptitvelo.net/">Un p'tit vélo dans la tête</a></em> in Grenoble, one volunteer told us some fixing sessions are women-only. </p>
<p>For members of the public without money, earn-a-bike programs convert volunteer hours into eventual bike ownership. </p>
<p>Workshop rules vary, but almost all <a href="https://en.bikebike.org/policy/">forbid</a> racist and sexist behaviour and support <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iMGC4A3L3I">conviviality</a>, diversity and respect. The main goal is “integrating a community”, the same volunteer told us.</p>
<p>Over time, a few diversify to become big social enterprises, like <a href="https://www.cyclo.org/en">Cyclo</a> in Brussels. Fees from memberships or workshop time, bike sales or government employment schemes allow some workshops to take on paid staff. </p>
<p>Others like <em><a href="http://velorution.org/paris/atelier/bastille/">Atelier Vélorutionaire</a></em> in Paris reject commercial or government support entirely, championing a more militant stance against cars and capitalism. </p>
<h2>Bike kitchens in Australia</h2>
<p>Australia has had many community bike projects dating back over 30 years, with <a href="https://thebikeshed.org.au/">The Bike Shed</a> in Melbourne being one of the first. Workshops come and go, but there are at least 18, with seven in Melbourne and four in Sydney. </p>
<p>Many smaller initiatives work in schools, churches, or at recycling centres. They are networked through <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/989483538572616">BiCANZ</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wecycle-melbourne.com/">WeCycle</a> in Melbourne is a workshop focused on fixing bikes for others. Founders <a href="https://matildabowra.com/tag/gayle-potts/">Gayle Potts</a> and Craig Jackson have supplied refurbished bikes to asylum seekers, refugees and people in need since 2016.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429539/original/file-20211101-15-d4g21a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bikes in an Australian community bike workshop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429539/original/file-20211101-15-d4g21a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429539/original/file-20211101-15-d4g21a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429539/original/file-20211101-15-d4g21a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429539/original/file-20211101-15-d4g21a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429539/original/file-20211101-15-d4g21a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429539/original/file-20211101-15-d4g21a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429539/original/file-20211101-15-d4g21a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Donated bikes accumulate in a workshop, ready for repair and re-homing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Batterbury</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A community approach to sustainable transport</h2>
<p>Workshops need volunteers and secure premises with power and light, on or off-grid. Limited budgets make this a challenge.</p>
<p>While workshops can be co-housed, secure premises is the key area where support from government and bike-friendly donors is welcome. Tools, racks and spares are also needed.</p>
<p>Community bike workshops extend bicycle lifespans and promote a community approach to sustainable transport – all while promoting <a href="https://arl.human.cornell.edu/linked%20docs/Illich_Tools_for_Conviviality.pdf">conviviality</a> and making our cities more liveable. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/do-the-sums-bicycle-friendly-changes-are-good-business-58213">Do the sums: bicycle-friendly changes are good business</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Batterbury received funding from the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne and Cosmopolis, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. The assistance of Bernardita del Real, Stephen Nurse, Derlie Mateo-Babiano, Alexandre Rigal, Max Teppner and Carlos Uxo is appreciated. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alejandro Manga is a board member of L'Heureux Cyclage. He has a research grant from the Mobile Lives Forum that partly funds the European part of his PhD. He is a dual degree PhD Candidate in the program of Communication, Culture and Media (Drexel University, Philadelphia) and in Urban and Regional Planning at Université Gustave Eiffel LVMT.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthias Kowasch is affiliated with Chôros (<a href="https://www.choros.place/">https://www.choros.place/</a>).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth Lane has received funding from the ARC.</span></em></p>Building a culture of cycling is essential, especially where bike use is low. A global movement of community bike workshops, also known as bike kitchens, can help.Simon Batterbury, Associate Professor, The University of MelbourneAlejandro Manga, PhD candidate, Drexel UniversityMatthias Kowasch, Professor of Didactics in Geography, Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark Ruth Lane, Associate Professor in Human Geography, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1602272021-06-10T15:44:21Z2021-06-10T15:44:21Z6 ways to approach urban green spaces in the push for racial justice and health equity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405447/original/file-20210609-14804-vcpzcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=341%2C179%2C5652%2C3774&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Green spaces are inequitably distributed across cities: The quality and quantity are lower in racialized neighbourhoods.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Multiple pandemics have been raging over the past year. Those of us in North America witnessed the convergence of three systemic issues focused on people’s health, green spaces and racial justice. </p>
<p>Black, Indigenous and people of colour face increased surveillance, suspicion, harassment and violence in public green spaces, like parks and ravines. This influences behaviours — who feels comfortable to linger in a park and who is seen as out of place, trespassing or suspicious? The perceptions of who belongs stem in part from a history of <a href="https://www.pps.org/article/public-space-park-space-and-racialized-space">parks as spaces for primarily upper class, able-bodied, white men</a>.</p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic quickly highlighted the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00215-4">underlying social and health inequities</a> that have always been present. In addition, people in cities have been increasingly seeking public green spaces in the face of lockdowns. Finally, calls for racial justice have been amplified with the increased mainstream awareness of racism — especially <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/">anti-Black</a>, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/06/01/seven-of-my-grandfathers-siblings-lay-in-residential-school-graves-the-215-children-found-confirms-what-indigenous-people-have-known-about-canada.html">anti-Indigenous</a> and anti-Asian racism.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cities-can-avoid-green-gentrification-and-make-urban-forests-accessible-160226">How cities can avoid 'green gentrification' and make urban forests accessible</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The increased use of <a href="https://policyresponse.ca/how-city-parks-can-be-part-of-the-covid-19-recovery/">green space during the pandemic</a> shows how it is a key part of the process to “build back better” after COVID-19. The UN-Habitat’s recent report “<a href="https://unhabitat.org/cities-and-pandemics-towards-a-more-just-green-and-healthy-future-0">Cities and Pandemics: Towards a More Just, Green and Healthy Future</a>” shares strategies for post-pandemic urban life, but falls short in naming systemic racism as a factor to address.</p>
<p>How can we take an <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality?language=en">intersectional</a>, <a href="https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/06/18/Whose-Streets-Black-Streets/">anti-racist approach to planning</a> urban green spaces as a public health measure? Policy-makers, planners and public health professionals can learn from <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5441df7ee4b02f59465d2869/t/5d8e9fdec6720c0557cf55fa/1569628126531/DELGADO++Critical+Race+Theory.pdf">critical race</a> and critical theory scholars in pushing for multidisciplinary action. </p>
<p>This is vital to stop upholding harmful practices that are rooted in systemic oppression. This critical framing is a prerequisite to create socially equitable green spaces that benefit public health post-pandemic. </p>
<p>Here are six ideas for policy-makers, city officials, public health, city builders and planners to consider in research, policy and practice:</p>
<h2>1. Resist romanticizing nature and green spaces</h2>
<p>Public green spaces have the potential to <a href="https://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Green-Space-Scoping-Review-of-Reviews.pdf">promote physical and mental health</a>. However, there is a tendency to romanticize nature and presume that all green spaces are universally good for everyone. </p>
<p>Green spaces, like <a href="https://www.safeinpublicspace.com/content/tour-2">other public spaces</a>, are subject to the same <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ravines-are-a-toronto-treasure-but-everyone-needs-an-equal-chance-to/?">social and systemic factors</a> that govern how people navigate and interact within them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man holding a laptop and a woman, both wearing masks, talk with two police officers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404940/original/file-20210607-23-tf2p7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404940/original/file-20210607-23-tf2p7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404940/original/file-20210607-23-tf2p7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404940/original/file-20210607-23-tf2p7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404940/original/file-20210607-23-tf2p7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404940/original/file-20210607-23-tf2p7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404940/original/file-20210607-23-tf2p7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police talk with people in a park in Montréal during the COVID-19 pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a racialized person in Toronto, I have been told to “go back home” and received sidelong glances when walking through certain neighbourhoods. As a woman, I have been whistled at and followed in public. As someone with chronic pain, I have had to turn back when confronted with a long flight of stairs.</p>
<p>Not everyone experiences a green space in the same way. The presumption that they do undermines the potential for green spaces to improve health in an equitable way, especially for Black, Indigenous and racialized people.</p>
<h2>2. Address the structural determinants of health</h2>
<p>Social determinants of health include factors like race, ability, gender and income, whereas the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425845/">structural determinants of health are the root causes</a> that make those identities subject to health disparities. Structural determinants include racism, <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-to-address-internalized-white-supremacy-and-its-impact-on-health-152667">white supremacy</a>, ableism, classism, sexism, transphobia and xenophobia.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men sitting on bleachers watching a cricket game" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404943/original/file-20210607-135198-1nk60bj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C2986%2C1966&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404943/original/file-20210607-135198-1nk60bj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404943/original/file-20210607-135198-1nk60bj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404943/original/file-20210607-135198-1nk60bj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404943/original/file-20210607-135198-1nk60bj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404943/original/file-20210607-135198-1nk60bj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404943/original/file-20210607-135198-1nk60bj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People play cricket in a city park in Montréal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Toronto, neighbourhoods are <a href="http://3cities.neighbourhoodchange.ca/">divided along racial and income lines</a> that <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/09/30/toronto-is-segregated-by-race-and-income-and-the-numbers-are-ugly.html">continue to grow</a>. This divide is the legacy of historical exclusionary policies.</p>
<p>Current policies and processes need to be grounded in principles of equity and anti-oppression to address injustices. Allocating the same resources now does not account for decades of discriminatory practices. Why does one neighbourhood get a playground quickly rebuilt after a fire, where another gets a <a href="https://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/yourcitymycity/2010/07/10/porter_playground_politics_are_unfair.html">second-hand playground after years of delays</a>? </p>
<h2>3. Engage meaningfully with people who are racialized</h2>
<p>An anti-racist approach to creating equitable urban spaces ensures that the needs of racialized communities are being met. Existing urban planning processes and health promotion initiatives around green spaces need to be <a href="https://www.kelmanonline.com/httpdocs/files/CIP/plancanadaspring2021/">reimagined to embed racial and social equity</a> in revamping education, theory and practice.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/finding-a-patch-of-green-covid-19-highlights-inequities-in-toronto-park-space-experts-say-1.5640852">quantity and quality of green space</a> available in racialized neighbourhoods is lower than in predominantly white and higher-income neighbourhoods, linking back to systemic issues about where green spaces are protected, developed and maintained.</p>
<p>Long-term accountability and transparency are non-negotiable. How do we address hundreds of years of slavery and settler colonialism, especially when it comes to <a href="https://native-land.ca/">Indigenous lands</a>? Who do we see in leadership positions in government and within institutions? What initiatives get funded? Situations like that of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-26/amy-cooper-exposes-green-space-s-race-problem">Christian Cooper, a Black man and birdwatcher, who was threatened</a> and had the police falsely called on him, continue to happen. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-you-should-know-about-black-birders-139812">What you should know about Black birders</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>My current research focuses on the experiences of people who are racialized in public, green spaces in Toronto. My discussions with community members include questions about who gets consulted in city engagement processes and whose concerns are addressed, versus who might be labelled as problematic. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42979498">Silencing and ignoring certain voices</a> is an insidious and longtime strategy in upholding oppression, including racism, ableism and patriarchy.</p>
<h2>4. Expand the concept of access</h2>
<p>Although physical access (like ramps, clear access points and signage) is important, the definition of access to green space needs to be expanded to include <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2021.126991">social access</a>. </p>
<p>There are deeply embedded ideas within western society about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxnIU6tfQNw">who belongs and who is seen as an outsider</a>. These ideas impact people’s experiences in green spaces.</p>
<p>This social access lens must include a nuanced understanding of race relations and a historical understanding of <a href="https://nccdh.ca/images/uploads/comments/Lets-Talk-Racism-and-Health-Equity-EN.pdf">systemic racism</a> in Canada.</p>
<h2>5. Build solidarity between groups</h2>
<p>While it is important to understand unique group experiences and histories, particularly when it comes to Black and Indigenous people, it is necessary to <a href="https://theconversation.com/searching-for-anti-racism-agendas-in-south-asian-canadian-communities-142431?">build solidarity</a> through common ground. An entrenched focus on differences only <a href="https://doi.org/10.18357/ijcyfs23/420117763">serves oppressive systems</a> like white supremacy through fragmentation. </p>
<p>Solidarity extends to include LGBTQ+ groups, those who are undocumented, migrant workers and those experiencing poverty and/or homelessness, for instance. Multiple oppressions can exist simultaneously and should not be presented as contradictions.</p>
<h2>6. Document and share processes and actions</h2>
<p>Documenting both processes and actions is a crucial part of <a href="https://via.library.depaul.edu/lawfacpubs/715/">recording histories</a> that often do not make it into mainstream venues. While not always an easy task, this is especially important for community groups pushing for change to document what has taken place, noting both challenges and opportunities for others to learn from and build on in solidarity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man sitting in front of a tennis court, next to a tent and shopping carts." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404938/original/file-20210607-130403-1lqrhma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404938/original/file-20210607-130403-1lqrhma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404938/original/file-20210607-130403-1lqrhma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404938/original/file-20210607-130403-1lqrhma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404938/original/file-20210607-130403-1lqrhma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404938/original/file-20210607-130403-1lqrhma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404938/original/file-20210607-130403-1lqrhma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man sits beside his tent in a park in Toronto while others play tennis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What will the archived narratives and stories from this period of crises be? For example, in Toronto, groups like the <a href="https://www.encampmentsupportnetwork.com/">Encampment Support Network</a> and the <a href="https://stjamestowncoop.org/">St. James Town Community Co-op</a> are responding to system-driven crises like homelessness and food insecurity, and documenting them in newsletters and social media.</p>
<p>In moving beyond this pandemic, we must critically consider how urban green spaces are a part of moving towards healthier, equitable cities that are racially and socially just.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160227/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nadha Hassen receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). She is on the Board of Directors for the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice.</span></em></p>Green spaces can be part of the plan to ‘build back better’ after COVID-19. But city officials and policy-makers must address systemic racism for urban green spaces to benefit public health.Nadha Hassen, PhD Candidate and Vanier Scholar, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1600682021-05-03T19:47:11Z2021-05-03T19:47:11ZHow the coronavirus pandemic is changing Toronto life and business – for better or worse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398384/original/file-20210503-17-cxtqdq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C0%2C3458%2C2331&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will urban life in Toronto — and other cities — return to normal after the pandemic?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On May 1, Toronto announced that 40 per cent of the city’s adult population had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. This positive public health milestone — <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/04/08/were-tracking-ontarios-progress-to-vaccinating-40-of-adults-click-here-for-the-latest-numbers.html">signalling progress on vaccinations following a slow and bungled start</a> — lends hope to the notion that urban life in Toronto will rise again as current pandemic restrictions are eventually permitted to diminish. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1388499300238471168"}"></div></p>
<p>At the outset of the pandemic 13 months ago, I first wrote about <a href="https://theconversation.com/cities-lead-the-charge-on-the-coronavirus-front-lines-134502">the role that cities were playing at the front lines of coronavirus response</a>. In April 2020, cities were focused on preparing an immediate response to both COVID-19 and pandemic-induced lockdowns. </p>
<p>Toronto’s municipal government was tasked not only with leading an extensive public health response, but also managing a set of rapid policy shifts concerning challenges <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/news/city-of-toronto-covid-19-response-for-people-experiencing-homelessness/">such as homelessness</a>, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-cities-may-allow-restaurants-pubs-to-expand-patios-into-public-space/">public realm</a>, <a href="https://www.cp24.com/news/ttc-to-temporarily-layoff-1-200-staff-in-response-to-90m-monthly-reduction-in-revenue-1.4908576?cache=">public transit service</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnTory/status/1239493696443371520">tax relief</a>.</p>
<p>Last fall, I launched an initiative called <a href="https://torontoafterthefirstwave.com/">Toronto After the First Wave</a>. Intended as a data visualization project, it was inspired by the accessibility of public health information regarding COVID-19, such as the <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid-19-latest-city-of-toronto-news/covid-19-status-of-cases-in-toronto/">City of Toronto’s dashboard</a>. </p>
<p>Toronto After the First Wave focuses on quantifying the impacts of COVID-19 on the city as a vibrant urban centre. This work has helped to highlight <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083211009638">the urban patterns made visible amid the chaos of the pandemic</a>. </p>
<p>Debate regarding the impacts of COVID-19 on cities continues. On the one hand, there has been story after story on the ongoing urban exodus from big cities to more pastoral living, the decline of downtowns and the unlikelihood of returning to work as we knew it.</p>
<p>Conversely, we have also learned that data often tells us something different: cities remain vibrant places and evidence suggests that concentration remains attractive. </p>
<h2>The end of cities?</h2>
<p>This urgent work was surrounded by broader debates about whether or not COVID-19 was the final provocation that would lead to the demise of cities. At first, the death of cities argument was inspired by incomplete information about the <a href="https://maxnathan.medium.com/the-city-and-the-virus-db8f4a68e404">role that cities played</a> as vectors of disease. </p>
<p>Indeed, cities — as places of dense concentrations of people and activities — appeared to be at the heart of the spread of COVID-19, and the centres of a disproportionate number of cases and deaths. Data demonstrates otherwise, however. </p>
<p>What we know now is that urban inequality is at the heart of the problem. This takes the form of <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/12/04/nothing-weve-done-has-helped-in-torontos-poor-racialized-neighbourhoods-second-wave-lockdowns-are-again-failing-to-slow-covid-cases.html">overcrowded living arrangements and precarious labour conditions</a>, including a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-doctor-vows-to-keep-speaking-out-for-paid-sick-days-after-racist-backlash-online-1.5980430">lack of paid sick days</a>, and is compounded by <a href="https://thelocal.to/you-cant-stop-the-spread-of-the-virus-if-you-dont-stop-it-in-peel/">poor public policy decisions</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398398/original/file-20210503-13-2aikg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A homeless encampment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398398/original/file-20210503-13-2aikg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398398/original/file-20210503-13-2aikg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398398/original/file-20210503-13-2aikg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398398/original/file-20210503-13-2aikg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398398/original/file-20210503-13-2aikg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398398/original/file-20210503-13-2aikg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398398/original/file-20210503-13-2aikg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Housing precarity in Toronto — as seen in this homeless encampment — has become increasingly visible during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What we’ve learned can also be divided into two further categories: outcomes we should have expected and those that surprised us.</p>
<h2>Expected impacts</h2>
<p>First, COVID-19 is an accelerator. At the start of the pandemic, anecdotal evidence <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6970856/ontario-urban-exodus-coronavirus/">leaned towards claims of an urban exodus</a>. <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/canadians-on-the-move-not-an-exodus-but-the-re-location-trend-in-canada-is-real-836349321.html">Real estate interest</a> in rural areas and small and mid-sized cities grew, cottage country realtors could not meet <a href="https://financialpost.com/real-estate/cottage-country-bidding-wars">demand for properties</a> and home sales in the Toronto <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7020364/toronto-home-sales-may-2020/">dropped precipitously</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-pushing-canadians-out-of-cities-and-into-the-countryside-144479">The coronavirus pandemic is pushing Canadians out of cities and into the countryside</a>
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<p>Although the data is still being collected, <a href="https://www.ryerson.ca/cur/Blog/blogentry54/">preliminary evidence</a> suggests that there is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-citylab-how-americans-moved/">no urban exodus</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, COVID-19 is credited for speeding up household moves outside of the urban core for affordability reasons. Pandemic lockdowns accelerated the process for those with stable or growing incomes and a desire for more space, and often, a private yard. </p>
<p>At the same time, fees paid by applicants to cover the costs of processing development applications in the City of Toronto increased by over 25 per cent in 2020. </p>
<p>In hindsight, it also seems obvious that COVID-19 would exacerbate inequality. Our Toronto case study highlights the uneven impact of employment loss for women. The pandemic also precipitated the collection of <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-631-x/2020004/pdf/s6-eng.pdf">race-based data</a> that demonstrates greater job loss, lower wages, and more precarity for racialized individuals. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid-19-latest-city-of-toronto-news/covid-19-status-of-cases-in-toronto/">Toronto data</a> provides evidence that racialized people and those in low-income households are far more likely to contract COVID-19 than others. We now well understand that the <a href="http://spacing.ca/toronto/2021/04/29/toronto-after-the-1st-wave-how-covid-19-affected-three-key-markets/">K—shaped economic recovery</a> has benefited some sectors while continuing to create hardship in others. </p>
<h2>Surprising innovation</h2>
<p>At the same time, COVID-19 forced innovative thinking. Our restaurants dashboard shows that more restaurants opened than closed in Toronto (based on data from Yelp) between May and November 2020. This finding is a far cry from earlier claims that the restaurant sector <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/half-of-independent-restaurants-could-close-permanently-due-to-covid-19-industry-group-warns-1.1425910">would be devastated</a> as a result of the closure of indoor and outdoor dining for much of the past year. </p>
<p>Job losses in food services are high, and job creation is slow to return. However, the industry has <a href="https://magazine.utoronto.ca/research-ideas/culture-society/the-surprising-resilience-of-restaurants-toronto-covid19-pandemic/">demonstrated remarkable resilience and innovation</a>, pivoting to takeout menus, digital ordering systems and a high reliance on delivery.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CMkk4t5hye_","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Another area where outcomes have been unexpected is in real estate and rental markets. Our report highlights unusual divergence in these two realms, though Toronto’s divergence is very much in line with the experience of other <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/why-are-housing-prices-and-rents-down/618212/">global cities</a>. </p>
<p>Rental markets in nearly every neighbourhood of the city have experienced declining rents. The greatest declines are in downtown neighbourhoods. Of the four neighbourhoods that experienced rent growth, all are outside of the core on the eastern and western edges of the city. </p>
<p>Conversely, home sales — with the exception of condominiums — have experienced growth in prices across the board. Following an initial dip in prices in April 2020, <a href="https://www.cp24.com/news/toronto-home-prices-rise-13-7-per-cent-year-over-year-1.5174770">Toronto real estate prices increased by over 13 per cent in 2020</a>. </p>
<p>It’s too soon to arrive at a conclusion while the story of COVID-19 and cities remains a work in progress. Yes, Toronto has suffered. But it remains a vibrant, thriving city with an enduring future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160068/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shauna Brail receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and received a grant from MITACS that helped to seed this research. </span></em></p>A new report looks at how the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is changing Toronto’s patterns.Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1509382020-12-10T18:59:00Z2020-12-10T18:59:00ZTramping the city to find enchantment in a disenchanting world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373737/original/file-20201209-16-1tpp073.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C7%2C4977%2C3323&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/melbourne-australia-march-14-2020-people-1696941991">Photos BrianScantlebury/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Based in Melbourne, we set out to find new ways of seeing and understanding aspects of Australian urban life in the 21st century. We did this by walking the city without preconceptions, open and ready to absorb what the streets and sidewalks had to teach. </p>
<p>In search of disturbance and enchantment, we moved, journeyed, observed, discovered, wandered (and wondered), got lost, found ourselves, listened, smelled and meandered through the main streets and back alleyways, the CBDs and suburbs, the parks, cemeteries, buildings and cultures of Melbourne.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373735/original/file-20201209-18-1ve56z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cover of Urban Awakenings book" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373735/original/file-20201209-18-1ve56z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373735/original/file-20201209-18-1ve56z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373735/original/file-20201209-18-1ve56z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373735/original/file-20201209-18-1ve56z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373735/original/file-20201209-18-1ve56z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373735/original/file-20201209-18-1ve56z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373735/original/file-20201209-18-1ve56z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://sustainable.unimelb.edu.au/publications/books-and-monographs/urban-awakenings/urban-awakenings-disturbance-and-enchantment-in-the-industrial-city">Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute/Palgrave</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We have reported our year-long project in our new book, <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9789811578601">Urban Awakenings</a>. We conceived it in early 2019 as a series of urban investigations. We were inspired and guided by the thesis set out in American philosopher Jane Bennett’s book <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-enchantment-of-modern-life-jane-bennett/book/9780691088136.html?source=pla&gclid=CjwKCAiA2O39BRBjEiwApB2Ikg6WJJPDRKldNsf_V6lKIlW6v9hDFABu2qszHE_JeaH6BVc4BsvNXBoCHesQAvD_BwE">The Enchantment of Modern Life</a>. </p>
<p>Bennett acknowledges that modern life in industrialised society comes with heavy environmental burdens and deep social justice concerns. But, troubled though modern life is, she argues it still has the capacity to enchant (and disturb) in ways that inspire engagement with the world and each other. </p>
<h2>Why seek out enchantment?</h2>
<p>In Bennett’s hands, a willingness to seek enchantment in everyday life is a necessary precondition of ethical practice and political engagement. It can create the emotional capacity for wonder, compassion, engagement and generosity.</p>
<p>Conversely, disenchantment with life poses an ethical and political problem, she maintains, in that it can lead to apathy and resignation. To be disenchanted is to feel one lives in a world that lacks meaning and purpose. A better world becomes unimaginable and so not worth fighting for. </p>
<p>Readers might agree it is easy to feel disenchanted in a modern, industrial city, with its concrete, cars, noise, pollution and crowding.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="people waiting to cross a busy city intersection" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373746/original/file-20201209-15-1j5hts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373746/original/file-20201209-15-1j5hts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373746/original/file-20201209-15-1j5hts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373746/original/file-20201209-15-1j5hts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373746/original/file-20201209-15-1j5hts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373746/original/file-20201209-15-1j5hts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373746/original/file-20201209-15-1j5hts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Disenchantment with the crowded, noisy and hectic life of industrial cities can blind us to the possibilities of change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/city-melbourne-vicaustraliaapril-15th-2019-crowds-1374287114">Shuang Li/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-a-good-city-80677">What actually is a good city?</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>On the other hand, to actively seek out and appreciate moments of urban enchantment has ethical potential. It can give people the energy — the impulse — to care and engage in a world <a href="https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-12-03/unsettling-the-story-of-disenchantment-excerpt-from-urban-awakenings/">desperately in need</a> of ethical and political re-evaluation and provocation.</p>
<p>To be enchanted — if only for a moment — is to see life as worth living. We can then start to see the world as a place that has the latent capacity to be transformed in more humane and ecologically sane ways. </p>
<p>More importantly, enchantment, as we are using the term, provides the propulsion to act and engage. It’s an antidote to apathy, resignation and perhaps even despair.</p>
<p>Based on these insights, we contend that <a href="https://store.holmgren.com.au/product/art-against-empire-ebook/">effective urban politics</a> must change or challenge not only the way we think about the world, but also how we feel, perceive, judge and experience the world.</p>
<h2>Urban tramping as method</h2>
<p>In our book we apply Bennett’s critical philosophy to the urban landscape. We did this by walking our home city, Melbourne, with eyes open to the possibility of enchantment. </p>
<p>We describe this as “urban tramping”. We urban tramps were to be free-thinking, free walkers of the city, encumbered only by the duty to absorb what the city had to teach.</p>
<p>The “tramp” was to be a distinguishing critical identity that at the same time related us to the various traditions of urban observation: <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1469-8676.12381">flâneurs</a>, <a href="https://www.historyvictoria.org.au/product/vagabond-as-social-reformer-the-inside-melbournes-asylums-and-hospitals-by-john-stanley-james-edited-by-michael-cannon/">slum journalists</a>, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Walking-in-the-European-City-Quotidian-Mobility-and-Urban-Ethnography/Shortell-Brown/p/book/9781138272781">ethnographers</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/psychogeography-a-way-to-delve-into-the-soul-of-a-city-78032">psychogeographers</a>, and so on.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/psychogeography-a-way-to-delve-into-the-soul-of-a-city-78032">Psychogeography: a way to delve into the soul of a city</a>
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<p>In other words, we set out to sojourn through urban landscapes with the same sense of wonder and critical attention that a nature walker like <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1862/06/walking/304674/">Henry David Thoreau</a> embodied as he sauntered through <a href="https://www.walden.org/explore-walden-woods/protecting-walden-woods-2/">Walden Woods</a>. Nature can enchant and disturb, but what about the city?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="foggy morning in a Melbourne park" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373738/original/file-20201209-21-6l1d31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373738/original/file-20201209-21-6l1d31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373738/original/file-20201209-21-6l1d31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373738/original/file-20201209-21-6l1d31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373738/original/file-20201209-21-6l1d31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373738/original/file-20201209-21-6l1d31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373738/original/file-20201209-21-6l1d31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The quest for enchantment took in all parts of Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/foggy-morning-ghost-gumtrees-local-dog-413909224">ProDesign studio/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9789811578601">Urban Awakenings</a> draws inspiration and content from the variety of our urban tramps over the past year or so. We started out from grounds never ceded by the Aboriginal peoples who have lived in what we call Melbourne for countless generations. We recognise the false claims to exclusive sovereignty of a social order established through invasion and violence.</p>
<p>In a collection of brief essays based on our perambulations, we record the myriad ways in which we found holes in the main narrative of Western societies today — that free markets and economic growth are the necessary and natural preconditions for modern urban life. Indeed, one journey took us through various cemeteries of Melbourne, inviting reflection on themes of death and finitude even in this (<a href="https://www.invest.vic.gov.au/news-and-events/news/2019/september/melbourne-one-of-the-worlds-most-liveable-cities#:%7E:text=Melbourne%20has%20retained%20its%20status,just%200.7%20points%20behind%20Vienna.">second-most-liveable</a>) city.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/imagining-a-better-world-the-art-of-degrowth-86201">Imagining a better world: the art of degrowth</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A disturbed book</h2>
<p>Little did we know a pandemic would <a href="https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/urbanism/planning/a-disturbed-book-bubbles-under-the-throne/">disrupt</a> our book midway through. It was split into two parts — before-COVID (BC) and after-COVID (AC). </p>
<p><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heraclitus/">Heraclitus</a>, the ancient Greek philosopher, famously said one can never step into the same river twice, since it is always in flux. We would say the same thing about cities. Our BC and AC experience of Melbourne testifies to this rather starkly.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="feet of person standing on rocks in a river" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373734/original/file-20201209-23-15qvdi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373734/original/file-20201209-23-15qvdi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373734/original/file-20201209-23-15qvdi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373734/original/file-20201209-23-15qvdi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373734/original/file-20201209-23-15qvdi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373734/original/file-20201209-23-15qvdi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373734/original/file-20201209-23-15qvdi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just as one can never step into the same river twice, each time we set out into the city it is changing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/girl-waterfall-spray-211925440">Pavel_Markevych/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As it unfolded, the pandemic was yet another historical proof of the vulnerability and contingency of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1942778620937122">capitalism</a>, especially its latest form, globalised <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/07/david-harvey-neoliberalism-capitalism-labor-crisis-resistance/">neoliberalism</a>. We recognised this huge, sudden superimposition on our project as an affirmation of its purpose. We walked Melbourne under lockdown (in accordance with the rules) with a keen eye for the many disruptions the virus imposed on free market societies like Australia, especially their paid and unpaid <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/work-life-balance-7644">working lives</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ive-seriously-tried-to-believe-capitalism-and-the-planet-can-coexist-but-ive-lost-faith-131288">I've seriously tried to believe capitalism and the planet can coexist, but I've lost faith</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Without diminishing the social and physical injuries of the pandemic, it was clear that many of the apparently rigid processes and rhythms of the industrial order could in fact be rapidly suspended and even permanently changed. </p>
<p>The sudden <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1942778620937122">relocalisation of everyday life</a>, for example, showed the stressful, polluting rhythms of urban commuting were part of a constructed, not natural, order. In traffic-calmed cities, nature took a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/07/blue-sky-thinking-how-cities-can-keep-air-clean-after-coronavirus">breather</a> and found new friends in social hordes who happily occupied <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/27/the-bliss-of-a-quiet-period-lockdown-is-a-unique-chance-to-study-the-nature-of-cities-aoe">newly available green spaces</a>, even median strips in once-busy roads.</p>
<p>Many more disturbing enchantments and enchanting disturbances were observable to the tramps’ eyes.</p>
<p>Our project ended just as the long lockdown in Melbourne was relaxing. Everyone began to wonder what permanent changes might have been wrought on the hard-wiring of Australia’s “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/cjres/article/10/3/391/4090996">growth machine</a>” cities. It was a good time to reflect on Bennett’s point that to seek enchantment is not to seek magic but rather possibilities for change in the stultifying and unjust workings of the industrial order.</p>
<p>The tramps took the project out on the road in Melbourne in 2020 at a time when change was certainly in the air. When we step into the city again tomorrow, no doubt we will find the urban landscape and its inhabitants still in flux.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150938/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Gleeson receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samuel Alexander does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Walking all parts of Melbourne before and after the pandemic hit was eye-opening. It brought home just how much change is possible if we wish for a better, more sustainable way of living.Samuel Alexander, Research fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, The University of MelbourneBrendan Gleeson, Director, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1443432020-11-22T14:16:17Z2020-11-22T14:16:17ZCOVID-19 cyclists: Expanding bike lane network can lead to more inclusive cities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370226/original/file-20201119-24-zabons.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The COVID-19 pandemic has seen an increase in people cycling as an alternative to public transit. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A major urban policy response during the pandemic has been the rapid implementation of new bike lanes. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/business/paris-bicycles-commute-coronavirus.html">Paris</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/21/milan-seeks-to-prevent-post-crisis-return-of-traffic-pollution">Milan</a> and <a href="https://www.smartcitiesworld.net/news/news/bogota-expands-bike-lanes-overnight-to-curb-coronavirus-spread-5127">Bogotá</a> were among the first cities to develop dozens, or even hundreds, of kilometres of new cycling routes. </p>
<p>Canadian cities were slower off the mark, but over the summer, <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/montreals-summer-plans-an-extra-327-km-of-bike-paths-pedestrian-lanes">new cycling infrastructure</a> became part of their response to COVID-19 as well. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-cycling-poll-1.5730111">A recent survey in Toronto demonstrated overwhelming support for these initiatives</a>. It found that 84 per cent of respondents supported the construction of protected bike lanes and 85 per cent wanted the city to do more to protect vulnerable road users. </p>
<h2>More than bike paths</h2>
<p>Bike lanes are about more than bikes. They can be part of building a more equitable city. To achieve this potential, traditionally siloed discussions about transportation, housing, urban design, race and inequality need to be part of the same conversation. Building a better cycling city for all requires more than bicycle infrastructure.</p>
<p>This is because our experiences of the city, including by bicycle, are dependent on gender identity, gender, race, class, ability and sexual orientation, all of which can amplify experiences of marginalization. Therefore, an <a href="https://time.com/5786710/kimberle-crenshaw-intersectionality/">intersectional approach</a> is necessary in order to fully understand different experiences and meanings of cycling.</p>
<p>As urban scholars and cycling advocates researching the <a href="http://www.briandoucet.com/">production of inequality</a> and <a href="https://robinmazumder.com/">how people experience urban space</a>, we welcome new initiatives to enhance cycling. However, a critical analysis remains necessary in order to ensure that new bike lanes do not reinforce the already existing social, spatial and racial <a href="https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/7833">fault lines within cities</a>.</p>
<p>To achieve cycling’s potential to enhance the safety, enjoyment, health, mobility and opportunities for everyone, three interrelated issues need to be addressed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370224/original/file-20201119-18-qs0mt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C0%2C3600%2C2624&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370224/original/file-20201119-18-qs0mt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370224/original/file-20201119-18-qs0mt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370224/original/file-20201119-18-qs0mt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370224/original/file-20201119-18-qs0mt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370224/original/file-20201119-18-qs0mt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370224/original/file-20201119-18-qs0mt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man cycles in a snow with a mask on in downtown Toronto on April 16, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>High-quality bike lanes</h2>
<p>In North America, bike lanes are often mere <a href="https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/waterloo-bike-lane-causes-cyclists-concern-1.4347837">strips of paint</a> ending at a busy intersection, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2018.1518174">forcing cyclists to navigate these busy intersections with cars and trucks</a>. To allow more people to cycle safely during the pandemic and beyond, new infrastructure needs to be better designed, including separated bike lanes and protected intersections.</p>
<p>The Dutch <a href="https://www.crow.nl/publicaties/design-manual-for-bicycle-traffic">Design Manual for Bicycle Traffic</a> is the <a href="https://islandpress.org/books/building-cycling-city">international gold standard</a> for developing safe, seamless and connected bicycle networks. Some cities are taking note: <a href="https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2019/01/06/dutch-roundabout-among-1m-in-cycling-improvements-proposed-in-kitchener-budget.html">Kitchener, Ont., is planning Canada’s first Dutch-design roundabout</a>, which prioritizes bikes over cars.</p>
<h2>Uneven distribution</h2>
<p>Even before the pandemic, <a href="http://neighbourhoodchange.ca/">cities were becoming increasingly divided</a> between affluent cores and peripheries that were home to growing concentrations of poverty, marginalization and visible minorities.</p>
<p>In these “<a href="https://www.azuremagazine.com/article/urban-density-confronting-the-distance-between-desire-and-disparity/">forgotten densities</a>” on the urban peripheries, there <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2016.07.027">tends to be less cycling infrastructure</a>. </p>
<p>The pandemic has accelerated these disparities. In June, the City of Toronto approved <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid-19-protect-yourself-others/covid-19-reduce-virus-spread/covid-19-activeto/covid-19-activeto-expanding-the-cycling-network/">40 kilometres of new bike lanes</a>: the largest one-year increase in the city’s history. Of the eight projects, five were in the gentrified urban core (including two directly above a subway line). None can be found in neighbourhoods with the <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid-19-latest-city-of-toronto-news/covid-19-status-of-cases-in-toronto/">highest rates of COVID-19 infections</a>.</p>
<p>Many of the most vocal cycling advocates live in gentrified urban cores. Measurable rates of cycling — <a href="https://censusmapper.ca/maps/983">such as journey-to-work</a> — are far higher in these areas. However, there are many hidden aspects of cycling — such as the experiences of low-income and racialized residents — that neither show up in official statistics nor are central to mainstream urban debates.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/poor-and-black-invisible-cyclists-need-to-be-part-of-post-pandemic-transport-planning-too-139145">Poor and black 'invisible cyclists' need to be part of post-pandemic transport planning too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In North America, the scarcity of bike lanes combined with their role in enhancing the quality of the urban environment means that <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/cyclescapes-of-the-unequal-city">they contribute to gentrification and displacement</a>, particularly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2017.1360041">in downtown neighbourhoods</a>. </p>
<p>This uneven geography is accelerating because of the pandemic: new bike lanes mean that those living in gentrified urban cores enjoy enhanced mobility choices. At the same time, residents in marginalized or peripheral communities continue to rely on <a href="http://spacing.ca/toronto/2020/04/01/marhsall-mapping-ttc-crowding-during-a-pandemic/">overcrowded transit</a> or are <a href="https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v3i4.1684">dependent on their automobiles</a>.</p>
<p>To address these imbalances, the goal should be to develop a comprehensive network cycling infrastructure across the city. Bike lanes should be a ubiquitous piece of infrastructure found downtown and in the suburbs, in rich neighbourhoods and poor ones. This is common in Dutch cities, <a href="https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/spectacular-new-floating-cycle-roundabout/">where some of the best infrastructure can be found at the edges of cities</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FR5l48_h5Eo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A video showing traffic flow around a Dutch roundabout that prioritizes cyclists.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Intersectionality and the experiences of urban space</h2>
<p>However, even if this geographic uniformity were achieved, it would still not make cycling safe and enjoyable for all. As the recent Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests have shown, how urban spaces are experienced varies tremendously depending on who you are. Cycling is not exempt from this.</p>
<p>Traditional planning metrics to measure the experiences of cycling focus on traffic-related stress, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2018.1518174">such as sharing busy a road with trucks</a>. Cycling advocates call for measures to reduce this stress, such protected bike lanes . However, it is important to consider how other forms of stress, like racism and police surveillance, intersect with traffic-related stress and influence the experiences of cyclists marginalized by race, gender, age, class or sexual orientation. </p>
<p>Planner Tamika Butler and anthropolgist-planner Destiny Thomas point out that in order for cycling to be a tool to further social justice, <a href="https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a32783551/cycling-talk-fight-racism/">race has to be central to how we plan and advocate for safer streets</a>. Thomas says: “<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-08/-safe-streets-are-not-safe-for-black-lives">If you want to ban cars, start by banning racism</a>.”</p>
<p>There is nothing inherently exclusionary about the bicycle. Because of its ease of use, affordability and flexibility, cycling can be one of the most egalitarian forms of transport. To achieve this, however, advocacy, planning and policy needs to shift beyond infrastructure to an intersectional analysis that examines the different lived experiences of urban space. That means connecting cycling to wider conversations about social and racial justice, defunding the police, the right to the city and the anti-eviction movement. This approach is necessary to plan and build a more equitable city.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144343/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Doucet receives funding from the Canada Research Chairs program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Mazumder receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship.
</span></em></p>An increase in cyclists due to the COVID-19 pandemic means that cities need to look at what it means to develop and maintain inclusive bicycle infrastructure.Brian Doucet, Canada Research Chair in Urban Change and Social Inclusion, University of WaterlooRobin Mazumder, PhD Candidate, Cognitive Neuroscience, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1489612020-11-08T13:56:27Z2020-11-08T13:56:27ZWhy some workers are opting to live in their vans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367844/original/file-20201105-21-eld2xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=810%2C259%2C4499%2C2270&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vanlifers enjoy the freedom of living in their vans.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Alex Guillaume/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A growing number of people are redefining what “home” looks like. For many of them, it looks like a van. </p>
<p>The trend to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/vanlife?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Ehashtag">#vanlife</a> is fuelled by the declining affordability of homes, rental shortages in urban centres and resort communities, and by a shift in our definition of “community” from physical neighbourhood to online <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/24/vanlife-the-bohemian-social-media-movement">social networks</a>. </p>
<p>Judging from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-02-2020-0029">our research</a>, there are very different understandings of this choice of residence depending on which side of the steering wheel you’re on. But understanding the experiences of van dwellers is important not just for those looking to cut their ties to rents and mortgages, but also for community planners and employers. </p>
<p>As organization scholars, we believe understanding the shifting definition of home in the work-life balance equation is important. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12168">Most research</a> on work-life balance focuses on finding ways to fit work into our homes and lives. That includes by either changing the way work is done or by providing programs such as daycare, eldercare or telecommuting that help workers better fit their work into their homes. </p>
<p>But these adaptations aren’t available for many workers. Construction work can’t take place on a Zoom call and flexible schedules don’t work well when you’re a bus driver. And many companies, for many reasons, are unwilling to invest in the programs that make work more flexible. </p>
<h2>Redefining homes</h2>
<p>Our research, based on interviews of working people who live in vans, finds that some workers are redefining their homes rather than relying on employers to redefine their work. They’re enabled by the social media movement #vanlife that provides tips on refitting vehicles with beds, baths and kitchens, on friendly (and unfriendly) places to park overnight and a thriving community of #vanlife commodities. The people known as vanlifers reject traditional notions of home ownership and take their residence on the road. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1323626291996860421"}"></div></p>
<p>This may sound like mobile home vacationers, but the vanlife phenomenon is not about vacationing. Rather, <a href="https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/van-living-documentary-2019">it’s a choice</a> that people with jobs are making, especially in high-cost markets <a href="https://www.vancourier.com/living/vancouver-is-the-most-instagrammed-vanlife-location-in-the-world-1.24050850">like Vancouver</a>, San Francisco and Seattle.</p>
<p>From the point of view of communities and homeowners, van dwellers <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/44706">occupy a category of homelessness</a>. In the winter of 2019, the resort town of Canmore, Alta., <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5276365/canmore-van-lifers-parking-ban/">grappled with the growing number of vans parking in community centres and shopping mall parking lots</a>. Local residents complained of noise, mess and the use of recreation centre facilities by the van dwellers. </p>
<p>There have been similar stories in Canada, including in <a href="https://www.theloop.ca/how-does-one-live-in-a-panel-van-exactly/">Vancouver</a>, Victoria and Squamish, B.C. </p>
<p>Local news narratives tend to paint the van dwellers as a transient group squatting on public space. These are valid concerns for communities, but the communities that complain about non-standard living arrangements are often dependent on the low-wage workers who tend to populate them and provide them with the goods and services they need. </p>
<h2>Made a different choice</h2>
<p>We set out to understand the van dweller lifestyle from their perspective and found several common themes. First, van dwellers categorically reject the homeless label. Many respondents made clear they’d simply made a different choice than most when it comes to how they live. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman sits smiling in the back of her van." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367142/original/file-20201103-21-18e70n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367142/original/file-20201103-21-18e70n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367142/original/file-20201103-21-18e70n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367142/original/file-20201103-21-18e70n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367142/original/file-20201103-21-18e70n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367142/original/file-20201103-21-18e70n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367142/original/file-20201103-21-18e70n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman prepares a van that she plans to move into in New Hampshire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Hilary Bird/Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They see van dwelling as a source of freedom from mortgages, rent, utilities and the possessions that come with traditional dwelling places. </p>
<p>One respondent, a club disc jockey, told us that as a renter, he needed to work more than two weeks every month just to pay his rent. In a van, he says, he has extra time and money to live a lifestyle he otherwise could not afford. </p>
<p>A construction worker lived in a van so that he could take half the year off for recreational travel, something that owning or renting would make unaffordable for him.</p>
<p>In addition to financial freedom, van dwellers told us it gave them more career freedom, opening up opportunities they couldn’t otherwise have taken. </p>
<p>A warehouse worker from California relocated to Washington to take advantage of higher wages. An on-call schoolteacher in Vancouver could take different assignments without suffering two-hour commutes. Instead, he moved his home/van in the evening when traffic was light. </p>
<h2>Harmony</h2>
<p>Finally, van dwellers extolled the harmony between work demands and their lives. They consistently told us they could enjoy their lifestyle regardless of work locations and schedules that would be challenging for many. Like the schoolteacher, a bus driver who works out of three depots scattered across B.C.’s lower mainland talked of how her living arrangements eliminated the stress by ridding her of the morning commute.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A green van is seen on a sunny, deserted highway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367143/original/file-20201103-27968-16unob8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367143/original/file-20201103-27968-16unob8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367143/original/file-20201103-27968-16unob8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367143/original/file-20201103-27968-16unob8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367143/original/file-20201103-27968-16unob8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367143/original/file-20201103-27968-16unob8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367143/original/file-20201103-27968-16unob8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vanlifers extol the virtues of mobility.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Hilary Bird/Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Van dwellers did report some negatives. </p>
<p>Some found the chore of finding parking places where they weren’t targets for ticketing or community frustration to be an ongoing challenge. Others felt their workplaces might stigmatize their choice, requiring them to hide their lifestyle in fear of harming their or their employer’s reputation. </p>
<p>On the whole, though, van dwellers rejected typical notions of home.</p>
<p>Just as vanlifers have reimagined the definition of home, perhaps it’s time for society and employers to reimagine where workers live. For employers, van living may provide access to workers, particularly in high-cost housing markets or tight employment markets.</p>
<p>Providing basic services such as showers or parking spots with power sources, ensuring employees are not discriminated against based on how they’ve chosen to live or simply acknowledging that someone’s choice of residence is no threat to anyone’s livelihood may create better outcomes for van dwellers, their employers and the communities where they work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148961/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Understanding the experiences of van dwellers is important not just for those looking to cut their ties to rents and mortgages, but also for community planners and employers.Scott B. Rankin, Assistant Professor, Human Resources, Thompson Rivers UniversityAngus J Duff, Associate Professor, Human Resources, Thompson Rivers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1488482020-10-30T11:19:13Z2020-10-30T11:19:13Z‘Nature doesn’t judge you’: how young people in cities feel about the natural world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366436/original/file-20201029-19-1glp5ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/silhouette-girl-on-roof-sunset-city-319776383">AntGor/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’re under 30, living in a city in the UK, and especially if you’re in an ethnic minority group, you’re likely to be considered <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2035">less connected to nature</a> or an “<a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/828838/Monitor_of_Engagement_with_the_Natural_Environment__MENE__Childrens_Report_2018-2019_rev.pdf">infrequent nature user</a>” in academic research. This characterisation has consequences – if you fit this description, your voice is heard much less in debates about nature, conservation and wildlife than your wealthier or, if you’re a person of colour, white peers.</p>
<p>But throughout my own research, I’ve found that young people in cities tend to value nature more than others realise. It’s not yet clear how young city dwellers have spent time in green and blue spaces during the COVID 19 pandemic. But whether it’s relaxing in woodland or in a beautiful park, these experiences are <a href="https://sharedassets.org.uk/uncategorized/why-parks-matter-to-racial-justice/">less accessible</a> for urban residents and people of colour in particular, who are already at greater risk of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/feb/10/therapy-failing-bme-patients-mental-health-counselling">poorer mental health</a>.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I recently interviewed adolescents and young adults aged between 17 and 27 who live in the city of Sheffield in the UK. None of them belonged to environmental advocacy groups or volunteered in green initiatives like urban gardening. More than half were living in deprived urban areas and half were from ethnic minorities. </p>
<p>We found that, even within the city, nature supported their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135382921931158X">mental health and wellbeing</a> in many different ways. Nature can help young people feel accepted, offer escape and help them feel connected to something much bigger.</p>
<h2>Trees, water and horizons</h2>
<p>In the city, moments of intimacy with nature, observed from inside or outdoors, are fleeting. A squirrel at a windowsill, the sunset from a multi-storey car park, how the light dapples the pavement when filtered through a leafy canopy. These experiences conjured feelings of “calm”, “relief” and “peace” according to our interviewees, who found breathing space in the presence of trees, running water or open spaces with expansive views.</p>
<p>We heard how nature sometimes provides an escape from both the physical confines of the city and from difficult life experiences. Farida’s bench by the stream helps her “forget what happened and live day to day”. An urban park, for asylum seeker Rojwan, is synonymous with freedom.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Buildings of Sheffield seen from a tree-covered hill." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366438/original/file-20201029-23-1vmvxms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366438/original/file-20201029-23-1vmvxms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366438/original/file-20201029-23-1vmvxms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366438/original/file-20201029-23-1vmvxms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366438/original/file-20201029-23-1vmvxms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366438/original/file-20201029-23-1vmvxms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366438/original/file-20201029-23-1vmvxms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sheffield’s Sheaf Valley Park offers calm in the middle of the former industrial hub.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sheffield-uk-august-9-2018-city-1643473027">Angelina Dimitrova/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The young people we spoke to even reported feeling a stronger sense of self through their experiences with nature in and around their home city. Feeling accepted and less worried about what others think, finding a welcome pause amid frantic daily life. For Mina, a walk on the edge of the city revealed “the trees, and how well rooted they are”, which offered a sense of security. Nature doesn’t notice Jen. It’s “indifferent”, and she likes that.</p>
<p>These occasions are also when memories of families and friends are recalled. Daleel’s time in the Sheffield Botanical Gardens cast his mind back to time spent with his family in childhood. Natasha’s spider plant connects her to those plants her parents and grandparents cared for, as the cuttings have been passed through several generations. These moments helped them feel they had a stake in a world worth caring for.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/house-plants-were-our-link-with-nature-in-lockdown-now-they-could-change-how-we-relate-to-the-natural-world-147637">House plants were our link with nature in lockdown – now they could change how we relate to the natural world</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<h2>Connection and care</h2>
<p>A typical schoolday for my own teenagers currently involves a strict 30-minute lunch break, corralled into the same basketball court each day, separated from the trees and grass opposite. Meanwhile, university students are stranded in student accommodation for weeks at a time. What can they see from their windows? </p>
<p>For those who are older, outdoor meetings with friends may be the best option for staying in touch. But many worry about how safe it is meeting outdoors in some parts of the city. Some of the people we spoke to mentioned that high public transport costs prevent them reaching parks where they might otherwise socialise. At least some of these problems could be solved by creating and caring for spaces close to where people live that are green, watery and rich in wildlife.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A fallow deer silhouette with street lights and terraced housing in the background at night." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366440/original/file-20201029-15-1b85tf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366440/original/file-20201029-15-1b85tf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366440/original/file-20201029-15-1b85tf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366440/original/file-20201029-15-1b85tf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366440/original/file-20201029-15-1b85tf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366440/original/file-20201029-15-1b85tf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366440/original/file-20201029-15-1b85tf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rewilding could transform familiar urban environments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/urban-fallow-deer-silhouette-wild-rooming-286184126">Mark Bridger/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We shouldn’t glibly prescribe nature for anyone with a severe mental illness, but our research could inform proper <a href="http://iwun.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IWUN-Practice-Document-young-people-ARTWORK-A4-8pp.pdf">support and care</a>. The young people from our interviews described their experiences with nature as social and relational – a two-way street. This insight seems closer to the truth than the idea that nature is another resource that can be taken like a pill.</p>
<p>Despite this, young people in cities, particularly those who are from ethnic minorities, are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/07/mya-rose-craig-young-people-need-to-see-someone-like-them-who-is-into-nature">largely excluded</a> from debates about how the natural world feeds into mental wellbeing. When their relationships with nature are scrutinised at all, it’s often by lamenting their failure to recognise particular species, or recall words that were once commonly used to describe wildlife and habitats. Young people harbour complex views about the natural world and their place in it, often seeing themselves as partners in a mutually caring relationship. It’s time more people heard about it.</p>
<p><em>All names have been changed to protect the individuals’ identities.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Birch carried out this research for the IWUN project with Clare Rishbeth and was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs grant number (NE/N013565/1), as part of the Valuing Nature Programme.</span></em></p>Nature is a promise of escape, a moment of relief and a relationship worth cherishing.Jo Birch, Research Associate, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1456492020-10-01T14:11:59Z2020-10-01T14:11:59ZWhy political decision-making is failing our urban green spaces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359414/original/file-20200922-14-bqmdlx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C7337%2C4912&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Green Park, London.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-september-12-2018-couple-1198188295">Kristi Blokhin/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Green spaces in city neighbourhoods are critical for wellbeing. A <a href="https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/environment-and-health/urban-health/publications/2016/urban-green-spaces-and-health-a-review-of-evidence-2016">huge amount of research</a> proves their positive health benefits: they support mental and physical health, reduce stress, and cut noise and air pollution. </p>
<p>Policymakers know this, which is why they put local authorities under pressure to keep parks and green spaces open <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-urban-parks-can-be-a-lifeline-if-we-respect-lockdown-rules-134185">during lockdown</a>. </p>
<p>However, there is a large gap between what this research shows should be done to maximise the benefits of urban green space, and what is actually put in place in cities. Politicians are keen to talk up the benefits of parks and other outdoor spaces – but less eager to spend money on their upkeep.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030444792">new research</a> demonstrates the gap between what decision-makers say and what happens in practice, and shows that it could worsen access to urban green spaces in the future.</p>
<h2>Policy promises</h2>
<p>Sometimes policy aspirations can never actually be achieved in practice. Take planting trees as an example. The UK government states it will plant <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-new-scheme-to-boost-tree-planting">11 million trees</a> in England by 2022, including <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/808858/Government-supported-new-planting-trees-England-2018-19-.pdf">one million</a> urban trees. </p>
<p>However, 30-50% of those urban trees <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274953179_Fundamentals_of_tree_establishment_a_review">may fail</a> in their first year. Perhaps only half will survive because they are often planted in the wrong place, in compacted soil or are simply not watered or looked after properly. There is a huge difference between planting trees and establishing them. </p>
<p>Local decision-makers often set big targets for parks and green space in strategy documents. These strategies are carefully worded documents which are aspirational and full of aims, objectives and actions. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://nottinghaminsight.org.uk/d/171438">Nottingham</a>, for instance, the city council’s strategy for green space targets “more people using open and green spaces, more often”, while in <a href="https://www.southampton.gov.uk/people-places/parks-open-spaces/parks/park-management/green-space-strategy.aspx#:%7E:text=The%20Green%20Space%20Strategy%20supports,parks%20and%20green%20spaces%20that%2C&text=The%20Green%20Space%20Strategy%20summary,aim%20to%20achieve%20our%20vision">Southampton</a> the city council’s aim is “to provide a network of high-quality green spaces contributing to a unique sense of place”. However, these strategy documents do not always have a legal force so it is difficult to hold policymakers to account. </p>
<p>It can be almost impossible to assess whether strategic goals have been achieved. We looked at two consecutive green space strategy documents produced by the London borough the City of Westminster, to see if their targets set <a href="http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/docstores/publications_store/Open_Space_Strategy_March_2007.pdf">in the first</a> – published in 2007 – had been met by the time the <a href="https://www.westminster.gov.uk/sites/default/files/a_partnership_approach_to_open_spaces_and_biodiversity_in_westminster_-_march_2019.pdf">second strategy document</a> was issued in 2019.</p>
<p>We thought this would be relatively simple to find out, but it soon became clear it was an impossible mission and we hit a number of stumbling blocks. In part this was because, over time, different datasets were used, meaning that direct before and after comparisons could not be made. </p>
<p>Some datasets held by Westminster council referred to “green space” but others considered “open space”. This might seem like a minor difference, but the first strategy set out to increase the amount of green space. This all meant that we simply could not find out from <a href="https://www.westminster.gov.uk/sites/default/files/a_partnership_approach_to_open_spaces_and_biodiversity_in_westminster_-_march_2019.pdf">the later strategy</a> with certainty whether this had actually happened. </p>
<h2>Targets that will never be achieved</h2>
<p>Setting a target of increasing the amount of urban green space is eye-catching and appealing. It is particularly attractive in high-density cities, where not all urban residents have <a href="https://www.citymetric.com/fabric/covid-19-highlighting-cities-unequal-access-green-space-5168">access to a garden</a> and so rely on having a <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lselondon/valuing-londons-urban-green-space-in-a-time-of-crisis-and-in-everyday-life/">park or green space</a> within walking distance.</p>
<p>There are creative ways to categorise green space. Roof gardens and green walls are increasingly included in definitions of green space, as are AstroTurf football pitches. But if city dwellers can’t access a green wall or get to the roof garden on top of a building because it is locked to non-residents, should they count? Some <a href="https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Strategic-Planning/Local-Plan/Open_Space_Strategy_2017.pdf">local authorities</a> describe synthetic football pitches as “publicly accessible open space”, but they may be locked facilities that users must book and pay to use. </p>
<p>Without statutory funding for parks and green spaces, it’s perhaps little wonder that green space strategies exude hope through lofty aspirations but cannot detail their achievements. When councils are put under pressure to find cost savings, parks’ budgets are often targeted. For example, <a href="https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-parks-shake-up-people-12903240">Newcastle City Council’s parks budget</a> was reduced by 90% between 2010-17. </p>
<p>COVID-19 has shown us how much we rely on urban green spaces for our mental and physical health. The government is currently carrying out a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/comprehensive-spending-review-2020-representations-guidance/comprehensive-spending-review-2020-representations-guidance">comprehensive spending review</a>, which assesses budgets for different government departments. It provides a timely opportunity to get urban green spaces back on the political radar. </p>
<p>It would be a backward step to continue the current approach to urban parks, where green space strategies are largely aspirational. Parks require the ongoing funding that reflects the essential service they provide.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145649/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola Dempsey has worked on a recent research project which was funded by NERC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Dobson has worked on a recent research project funded by NERC. </span></em></p>Politicians are keen to talk up the benefits of parks and other outdoor spaces – but less eager to spend money on their upkeep.Nicola Dempsey, Senior Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, University of SheffieldJulian Dobson, Senior Research Fellow, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1436272020-08-04T09:19:55Z2020-08-04T09:19:55ZBiodiversity loss could be making us sick – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350590/original/file-20200731-23-fuhtw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4930%2C3461&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/watercolor-painted-bacteria-moulds-backgound-753519763">Olis Design/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>By 2050, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877343509000153?casa_token=_sjZ80zDDOIAAAAA:1smBYBT6odb_symLSRpTUHFgkJb8ql1ozCQOv03nX_WaOn_fjXT2_ogIFPDkeTFAmbWl--zszqzj">70% of the world’s population</a> is expected to live in towns and cities. Urban living brings many benefits, but city dwellers worldwide are seeing a <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2019.00005/full">rapid increase</a> in noncommunicable health problems, such as asthma and inflammatory bowel disease.</p>
<p>Some scientists now think this is linked to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/all.13763">biodiversity loss</a> – the ongoing depletion of the varied forms of life on Earth. The rate at which different species go extinct is currently a thousand times higher than the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265093702_Estimating_the_Normal_Background_Rate_of_Species_Extinction">historical background rate</a>. </p>
<p>Microbial diversity is a large part of the biodiversity that is being lost. And these microbes – bacteria, viruses and fungi, among others – are <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00214/full">essential</a> for maintaining healthy ecosystems. Because humans are a part of these ecosystems, our health also suffers when they vanish, or when barriers reduce our exposure to them.</p>
<h2>The inner ecosystem</h2>
<p>Our gut, skin and airways harbour distinct microbiomes – vast networks of microbes that exist in different environments. The human gut alone harbours up to <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12088-019-00825-x.pdf">100 trillion microbes</a>, which outnumbers our own human cells. Our microbes provide services that are integral to our survival, such as processing food and providing chemicals that <a href="https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/physrev.00018.2018?casa_token=h8iI6cXkcTwAAAAA%3AbmMwwV5GSSwgMH-hWEEsq5H8B8JWHYOvESp0VbYF_uZN1EKiTgM8XLxf35A8TRey-C35JkJum1Axvfo">support brain function</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A model of the human intestine covered in bacteria." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350618/original/file-20200731-16-bmrz7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350618/original/file-20200731-16-bmrz7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350618/original/file-20200731-16-bmrz7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350618/original/file-20200731-16-bmrz7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350618/original/file-20200731-16-bmrz7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350618/original/file-20200731-16-bmrz7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350618/original/file-20200731-16-bmrz7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each person’s gut contains its own unique microbiome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/human-microbiome-intestine-1220371276">Alpha Tauri 3D Graphics/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Contact with a diverse range of microbes in our environment is also essential for bolstering our immune system. Microbes found in environments closer to the ones we evolved in, such as woodlands and grasslands, are called “<a href="https://www.news-medical.net/health/Old-Friends-Hypothesis.aspx">old friend</a>” microbes by some microbiologists. That’s because they play a major role in “<a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/110/46/18360">educating</a>” our immune systems. </p>
<p>Part of our immune system is fast-acting and non-specific, which means it attacks all substances in the absence of proper regulation. Old friend microbes from our environment help <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/1669007.pdf">provide this regulatory role</a>. They can also stimulate chemicals that help to control inflammation and prevent our bodies from attacking our own cells, or innocuous substances like pollen and dust. </p>
<p>Exposure to a diverse range of microbes allows our bodies to mount an effective defensive response against pathogens. Another part of our immune system produces tiny armies of “memory cells” that maintain a record of all the pathogens our bodies encounter. This enables a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6102609/">rapid and effective</a> immune response to similar pathogens in the future. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-capitalism-ruined-our-relationship-with-bacteria-103944">How capitalism ruined our relationship with bacteria</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To help fight infectious diseases like COVID-19, we need healthy immune systems. But this is impossible without support from diverse microbiomes. Just as microbes have important roles in ecosystems, by helping plants grow and recycling soil nutrients, they also provide our bodies with <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00203-017-1459-x">nutrients</a> and health-sustaining chemicals that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-019-0163-z">promote good physical and mental health</a>. This strengthens our resilience when facing diseases and other stressful times in our lives.</p>
<p>But our cities are often lacking in biodiversity. Most of us have swapped green and blue spaces for grey spaces – the concrete jungle. As a result, urban dwellers are far less exposed to a diversity of health-promoting microbes. Pollution can affect the urban microbiome too. Air pollutants can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4765992/">alter pollen</a> so that it’s more likely to cause an allergic reaction.</p>
<p>“Germaphobia”, the perception that all microbes are bad, compounds these effects by encouraging many of us to sterilise all of the surfaces in our homes, and often prevents children from going outside and playing in dirt. The soil is one of the most <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031405618301458?casa_token=j-K3qN-05eEAAAAA:ftrw7uyfdHS4VUjTB754yygcJjIJmDT9JtpOJwkdJFfs1jMLkYoQE6tG3QghTVAlx8ETJ3wb8RTn">biodiverse habitats on Earth</a>, so urban lifestyles can really disadvantage young people by severing this vital connection.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A child's hands playing with mud in a puddle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350620/original/file-20200731-14-1vzo8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350620/original/file-20200731-14-1vzo8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350620/original/file-20200731-14-1vzo8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350620/original/file-20200731-14-1vzo8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350620/original/file-20200731-14-1vzo8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350620/original/file-20200731-14-1vzo8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350620/original/file-20200731-14-1vzo8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children need diverse microbiomes in their environment to develop healthy immune systems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-kid-playing-muddy-puddles-dirty-726131269">The_Fairhead/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People living in more deprived urban areas have poorer health, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rflfQx73wUOhjWnohht4KbDFef9ySGR2/view">shorter life expectancies</a> and higher rates of infections. It’s no coincidence that these communities often lack accessible, <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0016718519301289">high quality green and blue spaces</a>. They’re also less likely to be able to afford, or have the time and energy to enjoy <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pan3.10082">affordable fruit and vegetables</a>.</p>
<h2>What can we do?</h2>
<p>We need to get serious about the urban microbiome.</p>
<p>Restoring natural habitats can help increase biodiversity and the health of city residents. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/rec.13175">Growing more diverse native plants</a>, creating safe, inclusive and accessible green spaces and rewilding inner city and suburban parks can restore microbial diversity in urban life.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/9/2/40/htm">Our research</a> is helping urban designers restore habitats in cities that can promote healthy interactions <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/biotechnology/pdf/S0167-7799(20)30114-1.pdf?_returnURL=https%253A%252F%252Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%252Fretrieve%252Fpii%252FS0167779920301141%253Fshowall%253Dtrue">between residents and environmental microbes</a>.</p>
<p>But access to these green and blue spaces, and affordable nutrition, must be improved. Support for <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-allotments-offer-urban-oases-for-bees-and-butterflies-142529">allotments and community gardens</a> could provide free, nutritious food and exposure to helpful microbes in one fell swoop, while sessions that teach people how to grow their own food <a href="https://theconversation.com/green-prescriptions-should-your-doctor-send-you-for-a-walk-in-the-park-143231">could be prescribed</a> by health professionals.</p>
<p>Promoting connections with nature – including the microbes many of us currently shun – should be a key part of any post-pandemic recovery strategy. We must protect and promote the invisible biodiversity that is vital to our personal and planetary health.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143627/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jake M. Robinson receives funding for his PhD from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). He is affiliated with inVIVO Planetary Health, the Healthy Urban Microbiome Initiative (Twitter: @HUMIglobal) and Greener Practice. Jake is also working with Harry Watkins (Twitter: @jhrdub) and the directors of the Centric Lab (Twitter: @TheCentricLab). Their aim is to improve the quality and accessibility of healthy urban environments through strategies such as Microbiome-Inspired Green Infrastructure (MIGI).</span></em></p>Rich and diverse microbiomes in our local environment are important for keeping us healthy.Jake M Robinson, PhD Researcher, Department of Landscape, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1368232020-07-14T16:56:03Z2020-07-14T16:56:03ZIf we love our cities, we’ll make better decisions about their future after the COVID-19 pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346448/original/file-20200708-3970-11ra171.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C18%2C4196%2C2730&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Philadelphia's LOVE Park, featuring a sculpture by American artist Robert Indiana, shows how love can shape our cities and their futures. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s the most famous city slogan in the world: I Love New York. And yet, surprisingly, love doesn’t seem to play a part in how urban planners build cities. </p>
<p>Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, <a href="https://www.citylab.com/design/2020/03/coronavirus-urban-planning-global-cities-infectious-disease/607603/">the future for cities looks dire</a>. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/us/coronavirus-moving-city-future.html">Urban areas may empty</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/24/upshot/coronavirus-urban-density-risks.html">and the death of urban density</a> might bring an end to mass public transit, storefronts on streets, kids jostling in schools, parks and playgrounds, and festivals in the park. </p>
<p>Throughout the <a href="https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/research_resources/charters/charter04.html">modern history of urban planning</a>, high-density living has been seen as dangerous. And with or without a global pandemic, living in dense cities carries risks, from disease to <a href="https://www.azuremagazine.com/article/urban-density-confronting-the-distance-between-desire-and-disparity/">social conflict</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346450/original/file-20200708-3999-16gfy4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346450/original/file-20200708-3999-16gfy4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346450/original/file-20200708-3999-16gfy4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346450/original/file-20200708-3999-16gfy4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346450/original/file-20200708-3999-16gfy4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346450/original/file-20200708-3999-16gfy4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346450/original/file-20200708-3999-16gfy4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346450/original/file-20200708-3999-16gfy4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In cities, the sheer number of people in a concentrated space poses challenges to containing the coronavirus pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For some leaders, love has played a major part in the management of this pandemic. British Columbia’s Medical Health Officer Bonnie Henry refers to the need to “be kind.” And New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=WoeIoSYSk50&feature=emb_logo">March 24 coronavirus news briefing</a> earned him a new moniker as the “Love Gov” when he said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We’re going to make it because I love New York, and I love New York because New York loves you. New York loves all of you. Black and white and brown and Asian and short and tall and gay and straight. New York loves everyone. That’s why I love New York.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The time-tested ratio of urban risk and reward</h2>
<p>Urban planners who study and design cities often explain them through growth, power, efficiency and grandeur. We have Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, with his <a href="https://99percentinvisible.org/article/ville-radieuse-le-corbusiers-functionalist-plan-utopian-radiant-city/">Radiant City</a>, Robert Moses as the “<a href="https://www.robertcaro.com/the-books/the-power-broker/">power broker</a>” and Harvey Molotch and his “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2777096?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">growth machine</a>” theory. </p>
<p>The discipline of regional science emerged in the 1960s to render the study of cities more serious and less personal, and interest has again surged in the creation of a “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/new-science-cities">science of cities</a>.” <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262181263_Love_as_a_planning_method">Urban researchers Andrew Zitcer and Robert Lake, however,</a> have asked: “What might it mean for a planner to love the people and communities that are the subject of planning?” </p>
<p>But what would it mean for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2012.731210">all urban planners to confess to their love for the places they plan</a>? And why?</p>
<p>As American philosopher Charles Peirce said, radical love — not competition, conflicts or challenge — is “<a href="https://arisbe.sitehost.iu.edu/menu/library/bycsp/evolove/evolove.htm">the great evolutionary agency of the universe…</a>.” According to <a href="http://periferiesurbanes.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Libby_Porter_Unlearning_the_Colonial_Cultures_ofBookFi.org_1.pdf">urbanist Libby Porter</a>, radical love is key to decolonizing planning. One of the possibilities that opens up for urban planning when decolonized is the possibility of more explicit and even reciprocal consideration of love as method and as purpose of planning. </p>
<p>As a colonial practice, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/urban-planning">urban planning has always been about taking a long-term view</a>. <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/reclaiming-indigenous-planning-products-9780773541948.php"><em>Decolonized</em> urban planning, as viewed by Indigenous planners</a>, goes further in considering planning for cities whose future residents we already love, and planning to make <a href="https://www.humansandnature.org/returning-the-gift">a gift of the city to them</a>. Decolonized urban planning permits us to think about cities loving us back.</p>
<h2>The three types of love for a city</h2>
<p>Different kinds of love feed and starve our cities. This shows up in the way urbanites of many stripes are motivated differently for the work they do. </p>
<p>In <em>Voices of Decline</em>, city lover Robert A. Beauregard writes: “<a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-ca/Voices+of+Decline:+The+Postwar+Fate+of+US+Cities-p-9781557864420">I grew up when the cities were dying.</a>” He exemplifies the <em>necrophiliac</em> urbanist who loves cities when it seems no one else will, especially the dying parts of cities, the desperate and forgotten places of decline, disinvestment and blight. They seek to offer dignity, a sense of rights and a voice to the marginalized. </p>
<p>Others — <em>optophiliacs</em> — fall in love with the city because the city opens their eyes. In cities, optophiliacs see how richness in diversity and density overfills their cups with creative potential — best exemplified by urbanist Richard Florida’s <a href="http://www.creativeclass.com/richard_florida/books/the_rise_of_the_creative_class">theory of the creative class</a>. They define urban success as a city dense with independent, multitudinous creative pursuits of all kinds. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B_FZx-1In2C","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Then there are the <em>plutophiliacs</em>, whose love for the city begins and ends with their love for money <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/303439/triumph-of-the-city-by-edward-glaeser/">and the creation of private wealth</a>. Some critics call them <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5dmqyk/naomi-klein-interview-on-coronavirus-and-disaster-capitalism-shock-doctrine">disaster capitalists</a>. </p>
<h2>Cities and the love of money</h2>
<p>These three different varieties of urban love act as rivals for the city’s favour and the forms that this takes in the urban form, function and structure. Necrophiliac love focuses on the city’s life-support systems for the sake of the most vulnerable — its economic base, basic democratic institutions, transportation system. </p>
<p>While Georges-Eugène Haussmann, master urban planner of Paris in the mid-19th century, was celebrated for sanitary works that saved the city from plague, necrophiliac city lovers <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=oY9JRQAACAAJ&dq=%22marshall+berman%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjIy5S6qqrpAhWbCTQIHbyyA504ChDoAQg7MAM">Marshall Berman</a> and <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=F8Kghk6aaCYC&dq=%22neil+smith%22+%22the+new+urban+frontier%22">Neil Smith</a> derided “Haussmannization” as the obliteration of the urban commons in favour of capitalist modernity. They suspected the sanitary planning works were a plutophilic plot to clear the slums and prevent uprisings. </p>
<p>Optophiliac city lovers, who express their creative love through the arts, culture and the finer details that make city life worth living, find themselves particularly scorned during this pandemic. With local shops, galleries and creative venues of all kinds shut down, boarded up and verboten, it is as if the city they love is being stolen right out of the hands they have been using to sculpt it. While sometimes shrugged off in times of crisis like this as being non-essential, <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/its-wiped-out-almost-everything-how-covid-19-is-hitting-ottawa-and-canadas-arts-scene">the laments of the optophiles for the cities they are losing are real, too</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertainment/news/covid-19-vancouver-arts-and-entertainment-live-streams-and-online-content-you-can-watch-at-home/ar-BB11BnQ3">When the arts sector scrambles</a> to generate ways to engage and show their work to others, despite the pandemic restrictions against gathering, this is not only an effort to earn a living — these optophiliac urbanists are fighting against a cultural retreat with far-reaching implications for cities as “the most human of all things,” as <a href="https://www.cairn-int.info/article-E_LHOM_193_0023--claude-levi-strauss-s-world-view.htm">Claude Lévi-Strauss</a> averred in <em>Tristes Tropiques</em>. </p>
<p>Plutophiliac urban lovers are the ones that cities seem both to love best, and love to hate. All of that sad dark stuff about the city we see in the present pandemic — it is their black gold. When business and <a href="https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/canadas-covid-19-recovery-depends-on-cities-tory">political leaders rally support</a> for cities as a necessary part of the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a plutophiliac love they are invoking. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12114-010-9081-z">As in previous disasters gone by</a>, they are busy devising new ways to create what they love from the wreckage, and that is private wealth. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346451/original/file-20200708-39-skbhbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346451/original/file-20200708-39-skbhbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346451/original/file-20200708-39-skbhbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346451/original/file-20200708-39-skbhbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346451/original/file-20200708-39-skbhbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346451/original/file-20200708-39-skbhbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346451/original/file-20200708-39-skbhbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346451/original/file-20200708-39-skbhbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cities have an opportunity now to think about how love can shape the post-pandemic world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock.)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a spirit of loving attachment to our cities, we can see these different varieties of love as offering entirely different risks, and different reciprocal gifts that our cities are likely to give back, as we recover from the pandemic. In the rich mix of urban density and diversity that inhabits all our cities, our love takes all three shapes of: a lifeline, a fount of inspiration, a cash cow. </p>
<p>The coronavirus has brought these different stakes in the city into sharp focus. If we can summon the courage to profess our love for the city, although it is dangerous, now as throughout history we may be better able to hone our plans so that the city of the future will love us back.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136823/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meg Holden receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>City dwellers love their homes but there are different types of love that shape how cities are viewed and how they work.Meg Holden, Professor and Director, Urban Studies and Professor of Geography, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1401272020-06-25T12:19:22Z2020-06-25T12:19:22ZNew York opens traffic-clogged streets to people during pandemic, the city’s latest redesign in times of dramatic change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343779/original/file-20200624-133008-1g07e86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C179%2C4640%2C3046&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Harvest Kitchen restaurant, on Manhattan's Upper West Side, making use of New York City's new policy of opening streets to walking, biking and dining.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/harvest-kitchen-restaurant-has-extended-its-outdoor-area-by-news-photo/1222125975?adppopup=true">Ron Adar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On some normally congested New York City streets, cars are gone, replaced by diners tentatively returning to restaurants – though only outside – after months of lockdown. On June 22, the city <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nyc-enters-phase-2-reopening-outdoor-dining-barbershops-n1231755">entered phase two</a> of reopening after its severe coronavirus outbreak, allowing many businesses to resume operations with restrictions.</p>
<p>Permitting restaurants to spread into streets is one of several pandemic-induced initiatives designed to enable social distancing in this densely packed city. In May, New York launched its “<a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pedestrians/openstreets.shtml#:%7E:text=Streets%20Opened%20for%20Social%20Distancing&text=Opening%20hours%20may%20vary%20by,Open%20Streets%20are%20in%20effect.&text=The%20Open%20Streets%20initiative%20is,BIDs%20and%20local%20community%20organizations.">Open Streets</a>” program, which will hand 100 miles of car-free streets to pedestrians and cyclists.</p>
<p>In a city often <a href="https://ny.curbed.com/2019/8/19/20812166/new-york-city-vision-zero-bike-street-safety">criticized</a> for letting <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/2019-was-extremely-deadly-year-nyc-cyclists-here-are-their-stories">cars dominate</a> – with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/us/new-york-city-pedestrian-deaths/index.html">deadly consequences</a> – these are fairly dramatic changes. Past efforts to protect New York pedestrians and cyclists have included lowering <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nyc-officials-to-announce-street-safety-reforms-after-deaths-of-2-kids/2305965/">speed limits</a>, adding crosswalks and creating bike lanes – approaches that “sort” street users into their own spaces but do not fundamentally question the basic organization of city streets. </p>
<p>The pandemic has quieted both pedestrian and vehicle traffic, stimulating a bolder reconsideration of how streets should be used – at least temporarily. As <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/visual-arts/faculty/amy_d_finstein">my research on transportation and urban history</a> shows, the city has a long history of considering audacious designs to tame urban chaos. </p>
<h2>Moving above ground</h2>
<p>Between the 1870s and the 1930s, the city repeatedly adjusted to new types of transportation: first the railroad, then the automobile.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343782/original/file-20200624-132951-dthdat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343782/original/file-20200624-132951-dthdat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343782/original/file-20200624-132951-dthdat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343782/original/file-20200624-132951-dthdat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343782/original/file-20200624-132951-dthdat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343782/original/file-20200624-132951-dthdat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343782/original/file-20200624-132951-dthdat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bustling Broadway in the late 19th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/united-states-of-america-broadway-in-new-york-street-scene-news-photo/985679260?adppopup=true">Bildagentur-online/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trains, which reached <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674588271">widespread use in the U.S. in the 1850s</a>, allowed people and goods to move further and more quickly than ever before. But speeding through cities they tangled with other street users, resulting in gruesome accidents between horses, carts and pedestrians. </p>
<p>A freight railroad that ran along New York City’s Eleventh Avenue from 1846 to 1941 was so notorious for killing pedestrians that the street earned the nickname “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/realestate/the-railroad-tracks-that-turned-a-street-into-death-avenue.html">Death Avenue</a>.”</p>
<p>To combat the train hazard, city and business leaders sought to provide separate spaces for different types of street users. Railroad magnates argued for <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300098273/downtown">elevating railroads above existing streets</a>, which required no time-consuming excavation. This solution created new problems, including noise, falling embers and the dangers of aerial train accidents.</p>
<p>In 1866, a hat merchant named Genin the Hatter had another idea: elevate people, not trains. Troubled by the dangers of crossing Broadway, he successfully lobbied New York to construct a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/nyregion/02broadway.html">pedestrian bridge across the wide downtown avenue</a>. But the cast iron footbridge lasted only a year before complaints about aesthetics and shadows compelled its removal.</p>
<p>Such piecemeal solutions could not fully address the complexities of street activity in late 19th-century New York, which already had nearly 4 million residents. But they did pilot some concepts that would reappear in later years – especially when the <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/down-the-asphalt-path/9780231083911">automobile soon arrived</a> to further complicate urban life. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343785/original/file-20200624-133002-bvi089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343785/original/file-20200624-133002-bvi089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343785/original/file-20200624-133002-bvi089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343785/original/file-20200624-133002-bvi089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343785/original/file-20200624-133002-bvi089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343785/original/file-20200624-133002-bvi089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343785/original/file-20200624-133002-bvi089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343785/original/file-20200624-133002-bvi089.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Elevated train tracks and station at New York’s Greeley Square, now Herald Square, 1896.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/greeley-square-and-elevated-train-tracks-new-york-city-usa-news-photo/629456291?adppopup=true">Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Utopian ideas</h2>
<p>Cars joined streets already teeming with pedestrians, horses and carts, peddlers, streetcars and elevated railways, with deadly results. New York City documented <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1921/compendia/statab/43ed.html">354 motor vehicle-related fatalities in 1915</a> and more than <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1930/compendia/statab/52ed.html">triple that in 1929</a>. In 2019, by contrast, 220 drivers, pedestrians and cyclists died in traffic accidents, according to <a href="https://vzv.nyc/">city data</a>.</p>
<p>Newspapers frequently published editorials about the threat of automobiles. In 1924, The Washington Post called “death by motorcar” a “national menace” while The New York Times compared car congestion to a <a href="https://search-proquest-com.holycross.idm.oclc.org/docview/103163814?accountid=11456.">giant cobra strangling its victim</a>.</p>
<p>City leaders responded to rising deaths by imposing <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/fighting-traffic">speed limits, restricting parking and creating one-way streets</a>. These changes, largely made in the late 1910s and 1920s, began to systematize the street chaos. </p>
<p>But throughout this period, creative architects, engineers and citizens were thinking bigger. In op-eds, books and journal articles, they proposed a wild assortment of designs questioning basic assumptions about how cities should work. </p>
<p>Some designs moved New York’s sidewalks to make more room for vehicles. These proposals included an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1908/11/29/archives/for-beauty-and-utility-in-new-york-city-charles-r-lamb-outlines.html">elevated promenade</a> along the Hudson River, sidewalks hung from the second stories of buildings and <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=2Kg1AAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA537&ots=lvB5gKVJuS&dq=arthur%20tuttle%20arcaded%20sidewalks&pg=PA536#v=onepage&q=arthur%20tuttle%20arcaded%20sidewalks&f=false">sidewalks that ran through their ground floors</a> so that adjoining streets could be widened. More high-tech ideas envisioned building <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3611935&view=1up&seq=820">six-level streets</a> or creating futuristic <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/kings-views-of-new-york-1896-1915-brooklyn-1905-an-extraordinary-photographic-survey/oclc/609747002&referer=brief_results">blimp and airplane networks</a> accessed by elevator-served platforms. One proposal imagined adding highways and moving walkways <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3611935&view=1up&seq=818">to rooftops</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343789/original/file-20200624-132955-18lku90.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343789/original/file-20200624-132955-18lku90.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343789/original/file-20200624-132955-18lku90.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343789/original/file-20200624-132955-18lku90.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343789/original/file-20200624-132955-18lku90.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343789/original/file-20200624-132955-18lku90.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343789/original/file-20200624-132955-18lku90.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1927 proposal for stacked avenues in Manhattan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3611935&view=1up&seq=820">The American City/Hathitrust</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>New York architects Hugh Ferriss and Harvey Wiley Corbett fused aspects of many of these ideas in a series of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/990128?seq=1">utopian writings</a> and exhibits during the 1920s. The cities of their dreams had regularly spaced modern skyscrapers topped by rooftop gardens, all connected by multilevel streets and aerial pedestrian walkways.</p>
<h2>From dream to reality</h2>
<p>While none of these proposals came to fruition, they eventually informed some real projects in New York. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://tupress.temple.edu/book/20000000010059">West Side Elevated Highway</a>, constructed between 1927 and 1937, combined the earlier idea for a riverside pedestrian promenade with the need to address congestion around Manhattan’s shipping piers. Its elevated path from Canal Street northward sped cars for four miles above the chaos of local streets, while its street-level Art Deco decoration provided a new sleek waterfront identity. It was torn down in the 1970s.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343792/original/file-20200624-132951-iw37iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343792/original/file-20200624-132951-iw37iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343792/original/file-20200624-132951-iw37iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343792/original/file-20200624-132951-iw37iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343792/original/file-20200624-132951-iw37iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343792/original/file-20200624-132951-iw37iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343792/original/file-20200624-132951-iw37iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343792/original/file-20200624-132951-iw37iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rockefeller Center, March 26, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-walk-along-5th-avenue-in-the-empty-plaza-in-front-of-news-photo/1215379878?adppopup=true">Gary Hershorn/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/987500">Rockefeller Center</a>, though, remains standing. Built in the 1930s, this development reordered 22 acres of midtown Manhattan, arranging skyscrapers, a performance venue, shops and restaurants around one central plaza. With multilevel pedestrian connections between spaces, it realized portions of Corbett and Ferriss’s ideas.</p>
<p>The still-popular <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24889363?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">High Line</a> unites two periods in New York’s transportation history. Built in 1934 as an elevated freight railroad, it closed in 1980 and was left to decay. In the early 2000s, the city revitalized the High Line as a garden-laden, aerial promenade that weaves between buildings and above streets, recalling the utopian plans from a century ago.</p>
<p>These are all precedents for New York’s current effort to transform its streets. Like banishing cars from some streets, many past ideas seemed exceedingly unlikely before they happened. The coronavirus pandemic has paused this bustling city long enough to again reframe what residents need to survive in a time of great change.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140127/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy D. Finstein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>First trains, then cars and, now, COVID-19 have all spurred New York to reimagine how its scarce space should be used – and what residents need to survive.Amy D. Finstein, Assistant Professor of Architectural History, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1391502020-06-17T15:56:17Z2020-06-17T15:56:17ZHow a group of homeless and vulnerably housed tour guides reinvented themselves during the pandemic<p><a href="https://unseentours.org.uk/">Unseen Tours</a> is a London-based social enterprise founded in 2010. It offers homeless and vulnerably housed Londoners the opportunity to train as tour guides in the city. This provides a new livelihood, but also allows <a href="https://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/chapters/10.16997/book35.g/">these marginalised Londoners</a> to share their knowledge and be seen – when so often the homeless are an invisible part of the city.</p>
<p>Since 2010, Unseen Tours has employed 20 guides that take tourists around different areas of London – Brick Lane, Camden, Shoreditch, London Bridge, Brixton, Mayfair and Covent Garden. The tours include tourist sights and locations which are off the beaten track, and are paired with personal stories of homelessness in the capital. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/chapters/10.16997/book35.g/">Research</a> has shown that the tours can challenge social stigmas while involving those that have previously been marginalised. By guiding tourists through these spaces, homeless guides are not only making themselves and their experience of space more visible, but also reclaiming their place in it as legitimate. </p>
<p>During the coronavirus pandemic, Unseen Tours has moved its activity online by hosting Zoom “Not-in-a-Pub-Quiz” events in which homeless people participate in curating questions for the virtual quizzes. It has demonstrated that in times of crisis, virtual spaces have also become spaces for marginalised Londoners to reclaim power.</p>
<h2>Homelessness and tourism</h2>
<p>Tourism plays an important role in defining <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233490957_The_Worldmaking_Prodigy_of_Tourism_The_Reach_and_Power_of_Tourism_in_the_Dynamics_of_Change_and_Transformation">how we see and understand</a> spaces and places. It helps to create an idea of the people and behaviour that are appropriate for a destination, and equally what and who is out of place. The relationship between homelessness and tourism is an example of this.</p>
<p>Tourists often <a href="https://thearchiologist.com/article/theory-of-the-derive">wander cities</a> with no particular goals, discovering and experiencing urban life, looking for adventure and discovery. Homeless Londoners adopt similar physical movements in space as they seek food, shelter, warmth and other necessities. However, they are essentially regarded by society as being out of place. </p>
<p>In major tourist cities, tourists and homeless people share many common spaces. However, tourists’ subjective experience of those spaces is celebrated through brochures, social media and newspapers, while homeless people are often invisible. </p>
<p>This is despite the fact that homeless numbers have been rising in the past decade. An estimated <a href="https://www.homeless.org.uk/facts/homelessness-in-numbers/rough-sleeping/rough-sleeping-explore-data">4,266 people were sleeping rough in England</a> by autumn 2019, of which more than 1,100 were located in London - around two and a half times more than in 2010. </p>
<p>In addition to the <a href="https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/policy_and_research/policy_library/policy_library_folder/the_human_cost_-_how_the_lack_of_affordable_housing_impacts_on_all_aspects_of_life">lack of affordable housing</a>, or the lack of consideration given by policymakers to the future of those affected, the social stigma attached to homelessness is a crucial issue. This stigma is challenged by initiatives such as Unseen Tours. It can be seen as social tourism – tourism which enriches both tourists and the people who live in the place they are visiting.</p>
<h2>Virtual tourism</h2>
<p>The current coronavirus pandemic has brought the global <a href="https://webunwto.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2020-04/TravelRestrictions_0.pdf">tourism industry</a> to a halt. Millions of people have lost their income and livelihoods, including the Unseen Tours guides. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/07/i-might-have-died-if-hadnt-rescued-me-hotels-for-homeless">UK government</a> has moved around 5,400 rough sleepers into hotels – and the number has risen during the pandemic due to the loss in jobs in the hospitality sector. However, there are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/15/fears-for-homeless-as-leak-suggests-rough-sleeper-funding-to-end#maincontent">concerns</a> about the long-term sustainability of these plans.</p>
<p>The volunteers that run Unseen Tours have established an innovative approach to create a new opportunity for those guides affected by the crisis. Unseen Tours’ “Not-in-a-Pub-Quiz” has become a <a href="https://book.peek.com/s/2047290f-9b9a-4ca1-b826-d466ea556961/xqwN4">monthly event</a> that brings together guides and those keen to enjoy an evening of entertainment, while also challenging the stigma surrounding homelessness and providing income for the guides.</p>
<p>The virtual pub quizzes, taking place on Zoom, have attracted more than 160 people so far, who pay a small fee to take part. The guides provide quiz questions or become quiz masters themselves. </p>
<p>Guides focus their questions on exactly those areas that they live and guide tourists in. They use the virtual spaces available to them to assert their right to occupy specific areas of physical space, like areas of the city which are normally considered the domain of tourists. This ultimately helps them to reclaim power over spaces that are out of reach, taken away by COVID-19. </p>
<p>The social enterprise has also now extended the <a href="https://unseentours.org.uk/tour/corporate-quiz/">quiz to businesses</a> interested in <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-ways-keep-your-employees-engaged-online-during-lockdown-jayni-gudka/">virtual team building</a> for their employees during the lockdown. This has turned the tours into a great way for local businesses to learn about the areas they operate in.</p>
<p>These virtual spaces elevate the guides into a position of authority and knowledge through these educational quizzes. They also provide an opportunity for guides to empower themselves, both financially and in a more abstract sense. </p>
<p>The virtual becomes a powerful tool for social change in the city in times of crisis, combining global and local forces to do good. What remains to be seen is what the future of tourism holds, and the place that homeless tour guides can occupy in what is likely to be a very different industry.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139150/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tourists and homeless people share many common spaces, but homeless people are seen as being out of place.Claudia Dolezal, Senior Lecturer in Tourism & Development, University of WestminsterDominic Lapointe, Professor in the Department of Urban and Tourism Studies, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1395322020-06-16T17:52:56Z2020-06-16T17:52:56ZAs city life is restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic, new residents find creative ways to manage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341418/original/file-20200612-38691-4gue34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C5742%2C3819&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New residents learn from and contribute to the character of a city.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over time, every city develops its own distinct identity, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X2017000054B007">a collectively shared city character or ethos</a>. Cities provide meaning to the lives of its residents: they shape and are shaped by their inhabitants. </p>
<p>Cities also provide <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8753-4_1">physical and social environments for human interactions</a>. This city character is easily recognized by its locals, yet how do newcomers — especially migrants — learn about the city that is to become their new home? What happens when this discovery process is interrupted by new pandemic response rules governing public urban life?</p>
<h2>Learning the city</h2>
<p>For newcomers looking to re-establish lives and careers, adjusting to a new urban environment can be overwhelming. Migrants seeking to permanently settle in the city may experience some disorientation or discontinuity as they navigate the local city. To gain comfort and feel safe and secure in the new city, migrants must acquire “city know-how”; that is, they establish new spatial and social connections and create new meanings.</p>
<p>While adapting to the new city may not be an easy task, cities with large immigrant populations, like Toronto or Vancouver, provide good examples of successful migrant infrastructure. These include social services and settlement resources that are meant to ease adaptation and integration. </p>
<p>Some cities have even designated themselves as <a href="https://www.tvo.org/article/what-is-a-sanctuary-city-anyway">sanctuary cities</a> or safe cities by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12308">adopting formal policies that allow everyone — even undocumented migrants — access to city services</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341416/original/file-20200612-38729-440wg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341416/original/file-20200612-38729-440wg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341416/original/file-20200612-38729-440wg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341416/original/file-20200612-38729-440wg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341416/original/file-20200612-38729-440wg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341416/original/file-20200612-38729-440wg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341416/original/file-20200612-38729-440wg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341416/original/file-20200612-38729-440wg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toronto is a sanctuary city, meaning that anyone can access its services — even without documentation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cities are meant to do much more than just meet the basic needs of their inhabitants. That is, we not only functionally bond to its artifacts — both concrete and abstract city resources and objects such as houses, parks, public spaces, work and social opportunities — but these city artifacts also allow us to build emotional attachments and influence our sense of belonging.</p>
<h2>Integrating into the city</h2>
<p>In a recent <a href="https://canadianimmigrant.ca/living/community/study-points-to-social-integration-as-key-for-immigrant-success">study of skilled migrant resilience</a>, we explored <a href="https://carcon2020.exordo.com/programme/presentation/61">the important role that specific city artifacts can have in migrant integration journeys</a>.</p>
<p>Migrants initially sought to gain intimate knowledge of their new urban environments by familiarizing themselves and discovering connectedness with the social and external realities of the city. Their connection with the city was based on evaluating and comparing experiences of their new cities to memories they had of cities they had previously lived in.</p>
<p>Thus, as migrants explore the new city, they seek to create new relationships and assign new meanings and “identities” to those objects they encounter locally. For example, certain city elements such as corporate headquarters located among the high city skyscrapers, traditionally seen as symbols of power and influence, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9787.2009.00627.x">may be associated with better career opportunities for newcomers</a>. </p>
<h2>Identifying resources</h2>
<p>In the same way, libraries, local business offices or newspapers may be identified as sources of human and social capital and offer potential employment information.</p>
<p>As migrants explore their new urban context, they are engaged in constant comparisons between their home and host city, and experiences in other cities serve as guiding principles for their experiences in new urban environments. Learning this new city know-how becomes a matter of great relevance and urgency for the newly arrived, especially in the context of seeking to re-establish productive work lives.</p>
<p>Interacting with the city artifacts, sometimes familiar and other times completely new and unique, facilitates learning and collaboration of different groups in the city. Our connection to the city is therefore much broader than just allowing us to conduct daily duties.</p>
<h2>Contributing artifacts</h2>
<p>Over time, as migrants interact with the new city, they start using its resources and creating social connections, helping them to achieve a degree of familiarity with the arrival city and establish a sense of belonging.</p>
<p>In creating new attachments to the local city, migrants are found to not only explore and interact with local artifacts, but many migrants are inspired to create new artifacts. This is one of most important and unique activities of migrants: creating new urban artifacts such as directories, guides, unique educational programs, new policies or not-for-profit organizations’ activities. Many of these are geared towards easing integration of other migrants, but they also increase connectedness and interaction for all city inhabitants. From being somewhat more passive recipients of the city know-how, migrants over time become active participants in changing and shaping their new city.</p>
<h2>Creative action responses</h2>
<p>What happens now, when cities have become affected by the pandemic? What remains for those in need of access to artifacts to re-establish lives and careers in the city?</p>
<p>How can migrants continue to relate to the local city, when rules of engagement are changing continuously? Even accessing resources like libraries, cultural centres or public spaces are limited or only partly accessible.</p>
<p>Based on our work on <a href="https://canadianimmigrant.ca/living/community/study-points-to-social-integration-as-key-for-immigrant-success">the careers and resilience of migrants</a>, we expect migrants to continue to cope and find creative ways of connecting to the city and its objects. Specifically, migrants may have increased desire to solve problems of access by creating new objects and finding new pathways in the city. In this way, migrants can be part of the solution in generously contributing to the changing city landscape. Migrants have great sense of purpose when they identify with the local city and needs of its inhabitants. </p>
<p>In the current context, when cities may become more inaccessible than ever before, migrants may have an even bigger role to play <a href="https://www.glomhi.org/home/community-event-on-migrant-collective-action-in-toronto-november-2">in addressing this situation</a>. </p>
<p>From their ongoing experiences of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0950017013491449">resilience and coping with life in the new city</a>, skilled migrants are especially well-positioned for creating solutions, like new resources, policies and support groups, that not only serve other migrants, but all of the arrival city’s inhabitants. Their well-established scripts of coping and settlement will allow migrants to continue to reinvent ways of relating and contributing to the local context.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139532/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was supported by the Migration and Resilience in Urban Canada - Immigration et résilience en milieu urbaine (BMRC-IMRU partnership funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, SSHRC#896-2016-1004
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions or opinions of the BMRC-IRMU partnership.
<a href="https://bmrc-irmu.info.yorku.ca/">https://bmrc-irmu.info.yorku.ca/</a>
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>
This research was supported by the Migration and Resilience in Urban Canada - Immigration et résilience en milieu urbaine (BMRC-IMRU partnership funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, SSHRC#896-2016-1004 The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions or opinions of the BMRC-IRMU partnership. <a href="https://bmrc-irmu.info.yorku.ca/">https://bmrc-irmu.info.yorku.ca/</a> </span></em></p>People moving to new cities build new connections and develop resources to meet their needs. But the pandemic has cut off access to the spaces and facilities that enable this.Jelena Zikic, Associate Professor, School of Human Resource Management, York University, CanadaViktoriya Voloshyna, Ph.D. candidate, School of Human Resource Management, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1378822020-05-18T12:18:51Z2020-05-18T12:18:51ZParks matter more than ever during a time of sickness – something Frederick Law Olmsted understood in the 19th century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335229/original/file-20200514-77239-1cyqgxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C4526%2C3505&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Looking south from New York City's Central Park.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Central_Park_-_The_Pond_%2848377220157%29.jpg">Ajay Suresh/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has altered humans’ relationship with natural landscapes in ways that may be long-lasting. One of its most direct effects on people’s daily lives is reduced access to public parks.</p>
<p>The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html">guidelines</a> urging Americans to stay at home whenever feasible, and to avoid discretionary travel and gatherings of more than 10 people. Emergency declarations and stay-at-home orders <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._state_and_local_government_response_to_the_COVID-19_pandemic">vary from state to state</a>, but many jurisdictions have closed <a href="https://thedyrt.com/magazine/local/campground-closures-list-covid-19/">state</a> and <a href="https://parks.arlingtonva.us/2020/04/parks-recreation-working-to-keep-people-healthy-and-safe/">county parks</a>, as well as smaller parks, playgrounds, beaches and other outdoor destinations. </p>
<p>There’s good reason for these actions, especially in places where people have <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/26/us/southern-california-beaches-coronavirus-heat/index.html">spurned social distancing rules</a>. But particularly in urban environments, parks are important to human health and well-being. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Richard_Le_Brasseur">landscape architect</a>, I believe that <a href="https://www.olmsted.org/the-olmsted-legacy/frederick-law-olmsted-sr">Frederick Law Olmsted</a>, the founder of our field, took the right approach. Olmsted served as general secretary of the United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, and his knowledge of contagious diseases informed his visions for his great North American urban parks, including <a href="https://www.centralpark.com/">Central Park</a> in New York, <a href="https://www.lemontroyal.qc.ca/en">Mount Royal Park</a> in Montreal and Boston’s <a href="https://www.emeraldnecklace.org/park-overview/">Emerald Necklace</a> park system. In my view, closing parks and public green spaces should be a temporary, last-resort measure for disease control, and reopening closed parks should be a priority as cities emerge from shutdowns.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lm4UD1eOTSI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Experts explain how urban parks promote public health.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Making healthy places</h2>
<p>Olmsted was born in 1822 but became a landscape architect rather late in his career, at <a href="https://www.olmsted.org/the-olmsted-legacy/olmsted-theory-and-design-principles/olmsted-his-essential-theory">age 43</a>. His ideas evolved from a diverse and unique set of experiences. </p>
<p>From the start, Olmsted recognized the positive effect of nature, noting how urban trees provided a “<a href="https://loa-shared.s3.amazonaws.com/static/pdf/Olmsted_Trees.pdf">soothing and refreshing sanitary influence</a>.” His “sanitary style” of design offered more than mere decoration and ornamentation. “Service must precede art” was his cry. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335236/original/file-20200514-77276-1kzmnri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335236/original/file-20200514-77276-1kzmnri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335236/original/file-20200514-77276-1kzmnri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335236/original/file-20200514-77276-1kzmnri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335236/original/file-20200514-77276-1kzmnri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335236/original/file-20200514-77276-1kzmnri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335236/original/file-20200514-77276-1kzmnri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335236/original/file-20200514-77276-1kzmnri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Olmsted’s 1874 plan for the U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.publicdomainfiles.com/show_file.php?id=13966301411602">Architect of the Capitol</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Olmsted came of age in the mid-19th century, as the public health movement was rapidly developing in response to typhoid, cholera and typhus epidemics in European cities. As managing editor of Putnam’s Monthly in New York City, he regularly walked the crowded tenement streets of Lower Manhattan. </p>
<p>At the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, Olmsted led efforts to improve sanitation in Union Army military camps and protect soldiers’ health. He initiated policies for selecting proper camp locations, installing drainage and disposing of waste, ventilating tents and preparing food, all designed to reduce disease. And in 1866 he witnessed adoption of New York’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Health_Bill">Metropolitan Health Bill</a>, the first city law to control unhealthy housing conditions. </p>
<h2>Antidotes to urban stress</h2>
<p>The insights Olmsted gained into connections between space, disease control and public health clearly influenced his landscape architectural career and the design of many urban park systems. For example, his design for the interlinked parks that forms Boston’s <a href="https://ramboll.com/-/media/files/rgr/lcl/bgi_final-report_mit_boston_20160403.pdf?la=en">Emerald Necklace</a> foreshadowed the concept of green infrastructure. </p>
<p>This system centered on stagnant and deteriorated marshes that had became disconnected from the tidal flow of the Charles River as Boston grew. City residents were dumping trash and sewage in the marshes, creating <a href="https://landscapes.northeastern.edu/water-sanitation-and-public-health-in-boston/">fetid dumps that spread waterborne diseases</a>. Olmsted’s design reconnected these water systems to improve flow and flush out stagnant zones, while integrating a series of smaller parks along its trailways. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334754/original/file-20200513-156656-1hfm6mb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334754/original/file-20200513-156656-1hfm6mb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334754/original/file-20200513-156656-1hfm6mb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334754/original/file-20200513-156656-1hfm6mb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334754/original/file-20200513-156656-1hfm6mb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334754/original/file-20200513-156656-1hfm6mb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334754/original/file-20200513-156656-1hfm6mb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334754/original/file-20200513-156656-1hfm6mb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Boston’s Emerald Necklace park system today.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.emeraldnecklace.org/park-overview/emerald-necklace-map/">Emerald Necklace Conservancy</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Olmsted also designed <a href="https://www.6sqft.com/in-1894-the-first-bike-lane-in-america-was-built-on-brooklyns-ocean-parkway/">America’s first bike lane</a>, which originated in Brooklyn, New York’s Prospect Park. Of the tree-lined boulevards in his design for Central Park, Olmsted said, “Air is disinfected by sunlight and foliage. Foliage also acts mechanically to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/04419057.2013.836557">purify the air by screening it.</a>” </p>
<p>In all of his urban parks, Olmsted sought to immerse visitors in restorative and therapeutic natural landscapes – an experience he viewed as the most profound and effective antidote to the stress and ailments of urban life.</p>
<h2>Parks in the time of COVID-19</h2>
<p>Today researchers are documenting many health benefits associated with being outside. Spending time in parks and green spaces clearly benefits urban dwellers’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2007.09.009">psychological, emotional and overall well-being</a>. It <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10030913">reduces stress</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916591231001">improves cognitive functioning</a> and is associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40471-015-0043-7">improved overall health</a>. </p>
<p>In my view, government agencies should work to make these vital services as widely available as possible, especially during stressful periods like pandemic shutdowns. Certain types of public green spaces, such as botanical gardens, arboretums and wide trails, are well suited to maintaining social distancing rules. Other types where visitors may be likely to cluster, such as beaches and playgrounds, require stricter regulation.</p>
<p>There are many ways to make parks accessible with appropriate levels of control. One option is stationing agents at entry points to monitor and enforce capacity controls. Park managers can use timed entries and parking area restrictions to limit social crowding, as well as temperature screening and face mask provisions. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1258546078162419712"}"></div></p>
<p>For example, in <a href="https://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/sps_covid.html">New Jersey</a>, many public parks have reopened for walking, hiking, bicycling and fishing while keeping playgrounds, picnic and camping areas and restrooms closed. They also have limited parking capacity to 50% of capacity. </p>
<p>In Shanghai, <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3075224/coronavirus-parks-and-tourist-attractions-reopen-china-tries-get">China</a>, the government recently reopened most parks and several major attractions, including the <a href="http://en.csnbgsh.cn/sites/chenshan/chenshan_en/index.ashx">Chenshan Botanical Garden</a> and the <a href="http://www.smartshanghai.com/venue/2401/Shanghai_Zoo_shanghai">city zoo</a>. Entry requires successful screening and online reservations, and visits are limited to a maximum of two hours.</p>
<p>Technologies such as GPS tracking and biometrics can set a precedent for future green space interaction. Residents could sign up for reserved time slots and log into apps that monitor their entry and distancing behavior. Some Americans might be put off by such technocentric means, but officials should be clear that making visitation easy and safe for all is the priority.</p>
<p>There will be challenges, especially when people <a href="https://www.wxyz.com/news/coronavirus/dnr-state-park-closures-likely-if-people-dont-follow-social-distancing-rules">flout social distancing rules</a>. But urban parks and nature offer plenty of benefits that are especially important during a pandemic. I believe that finding ways to enjoy them now in a manner safe for all will be well worth the effort.</p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-help">Read The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137882/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard leBrasseur does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of many great North American city parks, understood that ready access to nature made cities healthier places to live.Richard leBrasseur, Assisant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Director, Green Infrastructure Performance Lab, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1379092020-05-11T15:29:18Z2020-05-11T15:29:18ZHow major cities are trying to keep people walking and cycling<p>COVID-19 has radically changed our travel habits in just a matter of weeks. Walking and cycling are up, as people enjoy their <a href="https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/coronavirus-qa-it-safe-cycle">daily exercise</a> or take essential journeys they might otherwise have made by public transport. Cycle-to-work schemes have seen a 200% increase in the number of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52564351">bicycle orders</a>, while car use is roughly <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/883678/2020-05-06_COVID-19_Press_Conference_Slides.pdf">40% of what it was in mid-February</a> as more people work from home. Air pollution in cities has duly fallen rapidly, with nitrogen oxide pollution down 70% in <a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/oxford-road-pollution-levels-coronavirus-18189142">Manchester</a>, England.</p>
<p>Transport is the <a href="https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2020/02/uk-emissions-fall-as-coal-power-shut-off-date-brought-forward/">UK’s most polluting sector</a>, so encouraging more people to keep walking and cycling after the pandemic would <a href="https://theconversation.com/car-dependency-uk-government-cant-cut-driving-and-build-lots-of-roads-at-same-time-134965">benefit the environment</a>, as well as make cities healthier for the people who live in them. </p>
<p>The UK government is preparing to keep social distancing intact once public transport networks resume full service by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-52530518">reducing the number of passengers</a> by 90% and staggering work times. But the <a href="https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/respacing-cities-resilience-covid-19.pdf">International Transport Forum</a> predicts there’ll be a sudden rise in car use after the lockdown is eased, with many people opting to avoid potential exposure to the virus on buses and underground trains. So how can we ensure the positive developments in active travel become permanent features of city life?</p>
<h2>How cities are adapting</h2>
<p>As people change how they work, study and enjoy free time during the pandemic, city authorities are changing how transport can be accessed. Public transport provision in London has dropped due to record low demand, and the London mayor’s office is <a href="https://www.bikebiz.com/mayors-streetspace-plan-could-see-cycling-increased-tenfold-post-lockdown/">developing a plan</a> to enable more people to walk and cycle for essential journeys, by extending footways, restricting driving on shopping streets and adding extra cycle lanes. A £5 million fund has been proposed by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to <a href="https://news.tfgm.com/news/leaders-progress-bold-active-travel-plans-as-up-to-gbp-5m-of-emergency-funding-made-available-as-part-of-coronavirus-recovery">carry out the same work here</a>.</p>
<p>Similar schemes are being implemented elsewhere. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2020/04/22/paris-to-create-650-kilometers-of-pop-up-corona-cycleways-for-post-lockdown-travel/?utm_source=Newsletter+GDPR&utm_campaign=fce7b5c10b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_19_12_28_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f7628c0cad-fce7b5c10b-147465709%234fd547e154d4">Paris has created</a> 650km of new cycle ways, including “<a href="https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/specialist/knowledge/pedestrians/pedestrians_and_cyclists_unprotected_road_users/walking_and_cycling_as_transport_modes_en">pop up</a>” options which have widened cycle routes, reducing the space given to cars. In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/01/city-leaders-aim-to-shape-green-recovery-from-coronavirus-crisis?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">Milan</a> 22 miles of roads, formally used by cars, have been turned into walking and cycling routes. In the Colombian capital, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/11/world-cities-turn-their-streets-over-to-walkers-and-cyclists">Bogota</a>, officials have made 75 miles of streets free of motorised transport.</p>
<p>These temporary changes could reduce the overall demand for motorised travel well into the future. With cleaner air and stronger social bonds, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-uk-lockdown-end-poll-environment-food-health-fitness-social-community-a9469736.html">fewer than one in ten people</a> want life to return to “normal” after the pandemic. Lowering the number of diesel and petrol vehicles, allowing people more space to walk, run and cycle through city streets and designating <a href="https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/download/b6e6c7e903e367bb61cb0fa01470f3a9c94c12da36dadbab08bbe13738d83aa0/159951/Wood%2520%2526%2520Smyth%25202019_author%2520copy.pdf">more green space for residents</a> to enjoy could make urban areas permanently happier.</p>
<h2>Barriers to change</h2>
<p>To head off this danger of a return to heavier car use, the UK government recently pledged <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52600708">a £250 million emergency fund</a> to create pop-up cycle lanes, widen pavements and create walking and cycling only streets across England. In the long term, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps promised a £2 billion national cycling plan, which includes legal changes to protect road users and at least one “zero emissions city”, where the centre would be for bikes and electric vehicles only.</p>
<p>Research suggests that 58% of car journeys in the UK <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/specialist/knowledge/pedestrians/pedestrians_and_cyclists_unprotected_road_users/walking_and_cycling_as_transport_modes_en">are shorter than 5km</a>, so walking or cycling could be the main alternative for many city dwellers. That’s how people in Denmark got around while still maintaining social distancing. <a href="https://www.shine.cn/news/world/2005037442/">More Danes are cycling</a> than ever, but a cycling culture had already existed in the country for a long time. </p>
<p>Cultural changes can take a long time to take root. A lasting transformation of city streets will need careful planning and buy-in from the public. The enjoyment that many have taken from quieter streets during their daily exercise could produce a cultural shift towards more active travel and less car use in the UK. But in coming weeks and months, clear guidance from the government on using transport safely and efforts to build the infrastructure for walkers, runners and cyclists will be critical to making it stick. Reshaping cities to allow people more space to walk and cycle will help lay the ground for permanent change.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1137909">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As lockdowns ease off, there is a danger that the old city traffic jams will soon be back with a vengeance.Nick Davies, Lecturer and Programme Leader, BA International Tourism and Events Management, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityClare Cornes, PhD Candidate in Sustainable Mobility, University of SalfordGraeme Sherriff, Research Fellow in Urban Studies, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1355302020-05-01T12:18:31Z2020-05-01T12:18:31ZHow cafes, bars, gyms, barbershops and other ‘third places’ create our social fabric<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330869/original/file-20200427-145566-7eq7yk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Empty cafes with tipped chairs are a common sight worldwide during the coronavirus pandemic.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/march-2020-hessen-offenbach-two-caf-chairs-stand-tilted-to-news-photo/1207925696?adppopup=true">Frank Rumpenhorst/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic implies many painful losses. Among them are so-called “<a href="https://www.dacapopress.com/titles/ray-oldenburg-phd/the-great-good-place/9781569246818/">third places</a>” – the restaurants, bars, gyms, houses of worship, barber shops and other places we frequent that are neither work nor home.</p>
<p>The third place is a concept in sociology and urban planning that <a href="https://www.curbed.com/2018/5/31/17414768/starbucks-third-place-bathroom-public">recognizes the role</a> these semi-public, semi-private places play in fostering social association, community identity and civic engagement. In giving people a familiar setting for social interaction among regulars, they encourage “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0885412205286160">place attachment</a>” – that is, the bond between a person and a place.</p>
<p>Now, experiencing the coronavirus from the fortress of our living spaces, we may enjoy the feeling of being in a haven that protects against this invisible new enemy. But we’ve lost the social and psychological intimacy of third places. </p>
<p>It is a significant loss. My three decades of research on urban spaces finds that both <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=k1UMLAQAAAAJ&hl=en">public spaces and third places</a> contribute to a healthy and flourishing society. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330867/original/file-20200427-145499-weckew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330867/original/file-20200427-145499-weckew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330867/original/file-20200427-145499-weckew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330867/original/file-20200427-145499-weckew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330867/original/file-20200427-145499-weckew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330867/original/file-20200427-145499-weckew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330867/original/file-20200427-145499-weckew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330867/original/file-20200427-145499-weckew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A barber shop in Ferguson, Missouri.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/bartender-chuck-mcardle-at-the-eire-pub-in-the-dorchester-news-photo/612208284?adppopup=true">Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Places to ‘feel at home’</h2>
<p>Third spaces have probably always existed. From attending social clubs and religious gatherings to neighborhood festivals and burial societies, people have long formed associations that bring groups together. </p>
<p>Most of these associations reflected genealogical, religious, gender, cultural or class homogeneity. Often, they were formed to fulfill a social function like raising funds or completing a group task. They were not necessarily geographically located in a particular place.</p>
<p>Contemporary third places, in contrast, are always space-based. When <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Public-Space-Design-and-Social-Cohesion-An-International-Comparison/Aelbrecht-Stevens/p/book/9781138594036">urbanists use the term</a>, they’re referring to a physical setting with a boundary or entrance designed to allow, even encourage, access to a variety of people – like a coffee shop with a bright sign and an open door.</p>
<p>Staff and regulars are part of the scene here. But so are strangers. While not as diverse or accessible as public spaces, third places rely on a certain amount of heterogeneity to convey social importance and bring vitality.</p>
<p>In this way, third places complement <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/9780521359603">public spaces</a> like parks, plazas, playgrounds, streets and sidewalks – free and open places that offer <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13604810801933495">contact</a>, <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300188288/together">cooperation</a> and even <a href="https://www.guilford.com/books/The-Right-to-the-City/Don-Mitchell/9781572308473">conflict</a> with a range of mostly unknown people. </p>
<p>If public spaces expand our social relationships and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1745691617752324">liberalize our world view</a>, third places anchor us to a community where we are recognized and our needs accommodated. Third places are predictable and comfortable – a setting where we feel “at home.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331580/original/file-20200429-51500-1fiiz0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331580/original/file-20200429-51500-1fiiz0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331580/original/file-20200429-51500-1fiiz0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331580/original/file-20200429-51500-1fiiz0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331580/original/file-20200429-51500-1fiiz0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331580/original/file-20200429-51500-1fiiz0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331580/original/file-20200429-51500-1fiiz0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331580/original/file-20200429-51500-1fiiz0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Guests enjoy one last pint at the Red Lion pub on March 20, 2020, the day it closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/two-women-are-seen-drinking-inside-the-red-lion-pub-on-news-photo/1207850938?adppopup=true">Peter Summers/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>‘It is not the same’</h2>
<p>Those sheltering in place are now missing their third places acutely.</p>
<p>Recently, I spoke with some young men who are still gathering in a local state park near my home. They were sharing a pizza, hidden from view. They told me how hard it is not to be able to hang out at the pizza shop itself. It was their third place.</p>
<p>Grace, an older friend of mine from Manhattan, told me she feels “cut off” because she can’t go to the neighborhood restaurant where she knows the chef by name and enjoys sitting at the bar after work. </p>
<p>I still get coffee every morning at the <a href="https://www.goldenpearcafe.com">Golden Pear</a> on the east end of Long Island, where I live, wearing a mask and gloves. Normally, I’d eat breakfast there while exchanging greetings and conversing in English and Spanish with friends and staff. </p>
<p>Now I take my coffee to an empty beach to drink. It is not the same. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330865/original/file-20200427-145553-f5iir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=83%2C0%2C7856%2C5304&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330865/original/file-20200427-145553-f5iir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330865/original/file-20200427-145553-f5iir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330865/original/file-20200427-145553-f5iir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330865/original/file-20200427-145553-f5iir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330865/original/file-20200427-145553-f5iir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330865/original/file-20200427-145553-f5iir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Many restaurants, such as Patsy’s in New York City, are delivering through the coronavirus lockdown, but people miss the social aspects of dining in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/restaurant-delivery-worker-on-his-bike-stops-by-a-sign-in-news-photo/1220900477?adppopup=true">Cindy Ord/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>As my colleague Judy Ling Wong <a href="https://psrg.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2020/04/19/the-evolving-covid-19-lockdown-in-london-by-judy-ling-wong/">observes</a>, from London, where she lives alone, this lockdown is a time of “severe disorientation.” </p>
<p>Phoning friends has almost a “ritualistic feel to it,” she writes. It is “done to maintain our hold on social connections.”</p>
<h2>Gated against coronavirus</h2>
<p>Our collective loneliness during the pandemic exposes how dependent we are on one another for happiness – and how interconnected we really are.</p>
<p>Healthy societies depend on continuing interaction among people who are different in a multiplicity of ways. Third places are prime venues for such interactions because our shared enjoyment of its services – a love of coffee, music, or for working out – assures that even strangers have at least one thing in common.</p>
<p>I have studied people who live in <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Behind-the-Gates-Life-Security-and-the-Pursuit-of-Happiness-in-Fortress/Low/p/book/9780415950411">gated communities</a> – places bereft of such diverse interactions. I found that even in a supposedly secured space, they worry about crime and feel anxiety when they walk outside the gates of their neighborhood. Children who grow up in such places learn, implicitly or intentionally, to fear those who are outside the walls, including their own families’ workers, nannies or delivery people.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330868/original/file-20200427-145525-1rwt8xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330868/original/file-20200427-145525-1rwt8xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330868/original/file-20200427-145525-1rwt8xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330868/original/file-20200427-145525-1rwt8xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330868/original/file-20200427-145525-1rwt8xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330868/original/file-20200427-145525-1rwt8xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330868/original/file-20200427-145525-1rwt8xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330868/original/file-20200427-145525-1rwt8xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gyms are a third place between work and home for many people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-work-out-at-a-golds-gym-march-16-2020-in-washington-news-photo/1212852245?adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Because of the potential of contagious strangers, the coronavirus creates a similar <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Spatializing-Culture-The-Ethnography-of-Space-and-Place/Low/p/book/9781138945616">us-versus-them mentality</a>. Without third places and public spaces where people come into regular contact with others outside their circle, such thinking can become ingrained. It can metastasize from prudent public health advice to paranoia and prejudice.</p>
<p>The coronavirus, in other words, challenges not only our physical, mental and economic health but also our social health.</p>
<p>Third places provide the daily glue that binds us to a particular location and to the people who frequent it. With them, we construct a chosen community, a broader public realm. Without them, I worry, the associations that weave a complex society together will fray.</p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-help">Read The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135530/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Setha Low does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>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.Setha Low, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Geography and Psychology and Director of the Public Space Research Group, CUNY Graduate CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1366992020-04-28T14:48:06Z2020-04-28T14:48:06ZWhat cities can learn from lockdown about planning for life after the coronavirus pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329599/original/file-20200421-82666-1p3m91g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=138%2C307%2C3693%2C2486&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cities are going to be reshaped by the coronavirus pandemic, which has closed public parks, decreased traffic and put pressures on housing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Nathan Shurr/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades, epidemiologists have warned of <a href="https://www.lauriegarrett.com/the-coming-plague">the risks of new pandemics</a> in our world of stressed natural environments, densely populated cities and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/when-the-next-plague-hits/561734/">global travel networks</a>. The <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/112492/plagues-and-peoples-by-william-h-mcneill/">history of the relationship between cities</a>, the environment and disease shows that cities and civilizations have always been vulnerable to the rapid spread of infections: <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/article/1528/plague-in-the-ancient--medieval-world/">what the ancients called plagues</a>.</p>
<p>While societies often rebounded from such catastrophes, outbreaks set the stage for subsequent social and political change. For instance, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qORbiGWBBJ0">plague during the third century</a> helped <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/Antonine_Plague/">undermine the Roman Empire</a> not only <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-climate-change-and-disease-helped-fall-rome-180967591/">by decimating the population</a> but also by <a href="https://archive.org/details/panstravailenvir00hugh">weakening the economic, cultural and religious underpinnings</a> of urban and state structures. </p>
<p>As recovering Romans increasingly converted to Christianity, they refused to contribute to maintaining temples and fountains associated with pagan gods. Grand cities began to decline.</p>
<p>In the 14th century, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/black-death">the Black Death</a> killed a third to a half of Europeans. In the aftermath, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/city-in-history-its-origins-its-transformations-and-its-prospects/oclc/7102629">towns that in previous years had expanded their walls</a> to accommodate growth <a href="https://voxeu.org/article/how-black-death-changed-europes-cities">found themselves with open space</a> that Renaissance aristocrats and their urban designers subsequently transformed into parks, urban squares and promenades that now grace the great cities of Europe.</p>
<h2>How recovery built cities</h2>
<p>Waves of epidemics following European contact in the 15th century devastated cultures across the Americas, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhncJH4UFQI">leaving towns emptied</a> and sophisticated knowledge lost. </p>
<p>Cholera and other outbreaks in the crowded and <a href="https://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/snowcricketarticle.html">unsanitary cities of the 19th century</a> led not only to major sanitary reforms but to the institutionalization of public health measures and <a href="https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/2244099">town planning practices</a>. The desire for ventilation and
daylight that Victorian-era epidemics reinforced influenced the streets, parks, urban spaces and homes we <a href="https://archive.org/details/townplanninginp00unwigoog/page/n9/mode/2up">planned and built through the 20th century</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328933/original/file-20200419-152576-1hgif4a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328933/original/file-20200419-152576-1hgif4a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328933/original/file-20200419-152576-1hgif4a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328933/original/file-20200419-152576-1hgif4a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328933/original/file-20200419-152576-1hgif4a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328933/original/file-20200419-152576-1hgif4a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328933/original/file-20200419-152576-1hgif4a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328933/original/file-20200419-152576-1hgif4a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">During the Renaissance, European cities — like Brussels — expanded public spaces like grand central squares.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jill Grant)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>History reminds us that civilizations and <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/lab-rat/plague-and-the-city/">cities create the conditions</a> within which diseases rise and spread; pandemics in return can <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-pandemics-change-history">change important features of cities and civilizations</a>.</p>
<h2>Cities challenged by the pandemic</h2>
<p>In his 1912 pamphlet “<a href="https://www.hgstrust.org/documents/nothing-gained.pdf">Nothing gained from overcrowding</a>”, the British town planner Raymond Unwin advocated a maximum of 12 houses per acre. By the 1990s, the planning preference for relatively low urban densities, which <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3614185.html">contributed to sprawl</a> and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sf/article-abstract/62/4/905/1927494">suburbanization</a>, was replaced in many Western nations with policies encouraging high densities, mixed use and transit-oriented development thought to enhance the efficiency of infrastructure and services.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329246/original/file-20200420-152585-1ag7z9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329246/original/file-20200420-152585-1ag7z9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329246/original/file-20200420-152585-1ag7z9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329246/original/file-20200420-152585-1ag7z9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329246/original/file-20200420-152585-1ag7z9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329246/original/file-20200420-152585-1ag7z9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329246/original/file-20200420-152585-1ag7z9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329246/original/file-20200420-152585-1ag7z9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">McKenzie Towne in Calgary is an example of the recent focus on planning denser residential environments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jill Grant)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The current pandemic challenges contemporary planning prescriptions for urban <a href="http://livable.org/about-us/what-is-livability">livability</a> and <a href="https://www.citylab.com/life/2012/11/cities-denser-cores-do-better/3911/">economic vitality</a>. Cities face significant risks during density-susceptible epidemics, with numbers of cases and death rates linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-072X-12-9">population density</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.22.20041004">city size</a>. </p>
<p>Many cities have <a href="https://www.thecoast.ca/COVID19Needtoknow/archives/2020/04/03/parks-beaches-and-trails-are-still-definitely-closed">closed the green spaces</a> intended to provide recreation for the residents of dense neighbourhoods, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-quarantine/sealed-in-chinese-trapped-at-home-by-coronavirus-feel-the-strain-idUSKCN20G0AY">leaving home-bound residents of small units feeling trapped</a>, especially if they have <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-keep-your-children-active-and-healthy-while-in-coronavirus-isolation-134973">children to keep active and engaged</a>. The poorest urban residents <a href="https://www.homelesshub.ca/resource/covid-19-response-framework-people-experiencing-homelessness">lack adequate shelter</a> and <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-covid-19-homeless/">sanitation to stay safe</a> and socially distanced.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-keep-your-children-active-and-healthy-while-in-coronavirus-isolation-134973">How to keep your children active and healthy while in coronavirus isolation</a>
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<p>Essential transit systems, often feared as <a href="https://www.pix11.com/news/coronavirus/covid-19-killing-nyc-transit-workers-at-staggering-rate">nodes and corridors for virus spread</a>, are <a href="https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/go-transit-ridership-drops-80-amid-covid-19-shutdowns">operating below capacity</a>. <a href="https://www.hamilton.ca/city-planning/official-plan-zoning-by-law/commercial-and-mixed-use-zones">Mixed-use zones</a> with concentrations of cafes, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6770746/coronavirus-interior-health-closure-fitness-centres/">fitness studios</a> and <a href="https://www.tvo.org/article/covid-19-and-the-restaurant-apocalypse">restaurants are struggling</a> to survive as the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00986754">third places</a>” valued for social interaction have had to go virtual. </p>
<p>Higher death rates among <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/04/09/why-are-blacks-dying-at-higher-rates-from-covid-19/">racialized populations</a> and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/asian-americans-describe-gut-punch-of-racist-attacks-during-coronavirus-pandemic">racist attacks</a> against Asian residents threaten planning’s commitment to diversity and integration. The usual strategies for designing cities may need to be reconsidered.</p>
<h2>What can cities learn from lockdown?</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/cities-lead-the-charge-on-the-coronavirus-front-lines-134502">What lessons can cities draw</a> from this crisis <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/dreessen-lets-use-what-covid-19-has-taught-us-to-redesign-our-city/">to inform future planning</a>? We may need to reconsider the push for higher urban densities. <a href="https://theconversation.com/homelessness-and-overcrowding-expose-us-all-to-coronavirus-heres-what-we-can-do-to-stop-the-spread-134378">Crowded housing</a> increases contagion risks.</p>
<p>After being cooped up in towers for months on end, urban dwellers may begin to look at suburban lots more longingly than they did in past: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-019-09678-8">living preferences may change</a>. Everyone needs some <a href="https://www.nrpa.org/blog/a-park-planners-perspective-on-the-covid-19-pandemic/">access to outside space</a> for mental health and exercise. We may want to consider broader park paths or longer benches that enable physical distancing, or <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/closing-parks-ineffective-pandemic-theater/609580/">better strategies for managing who uses space</a> when. Those who can walk to work <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-encouraging-people-to-shop-local-during-covid-19-pandemic-1.4877196">or to shop</a> are appreciating that ability during these times, but we need to ensure that more have that choice.</p>
<p>The pandemic has <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-pandemic-is-an-opportunity-to-create-affordable-cities-134735">brought inequality into stark relief</a>. Everyone needs <a href="https://theconversation.com/job-guarantees-basic-income-can-save-us-from-covid-19-depression-133997">a living income</a> to keep us all safe. Governments need to plan <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/commentary/fast-facts-homelessness-precarious-housing-and-covid-19">decent housing for all</a>, not only for social justice reasons but <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/guidance-documents/homelessness.html">for public health</a>.</p>
<p>Although it’s too early to predict the long-term impacts of the pandemic on our cities, our societies and ourselves, we know that things will never be quite the same again. We need to learn the lessons of our current difficulties and plan effectively to meet the challenges ahead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136699/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jill L Grant has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Cities can learn from past pandemics to see how communities and lifestyles are shaped by outbreaks.Jill L Grant, Professor Emeritus, School of Planning, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1345022020-04-02T13:38:11Z2020-04-02T13:38:11ZCities lead the charge on the coronavirus front lines<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324608/original/file-20200401-66140-kerae0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A crew works on building a 68-bed emergency field hospital specially equipped with a respiratory unit in New York's Central Park on March 29, 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Mary Altaffer</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>How many times have we heard over the past few weeks that we have entered an unprecedented era? </p>
<p>The rapid spread of COVID-19 has upended lives and livelihoods. In cities around the world, the repercussions of scaling back as a result of physical distancing measures have had exceptionally damaging impacts. </p>
<p>And at the same time, observers marvel at the ways in which urban life continues.</p>
<p>Cities appear to be on the front lines of coronavirus outbreaks and hot spots. In fact, <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2003.10376.pdf">researchers from the University of Chicago show</a> that larger cities are susceptible to relatively larger outbreaks of COVID-19. </p>
<h2>More contacts, more spread</h2>
<p>This is due to the increased number of contacts that individuals residing in larger centres tend to have. One of the key responses to containing the pandemic — stringent physical distancing measures — acts to disconnect social interactions. </p>
<p>Some scholars and pundits are pointing to COVID-19 pandemic as evidence that cities should no longer be sites of concentration for jobs, culture and people.</p>
<p>But the history of declaring the death of cities is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980600775642">well-documented — and also widely disproven.</a> </p>
<p>With workplaces and social spaces largely shuttered, and messages from public health agencies to stay home, the economic and social impacts of recommendations to physically isolate are difficult to bear. In city after city, as public health experts call on citizens to isolate and stay at home, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/world/europe/coronavirus-city-life.html">images display the shutdown of urban life</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324607/original/file-20200401-66134-1gii9fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324607/original/file-20200401-66134-1gii9fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324607/original/file-20200401-66134-1gii9fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324607/original/file-20200401-66134-1gii9fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324607/original/file-20200401-66134-1gii9fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324607/original/file-20200401-66134-1gii9fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324607/original/file-20200401-66134-1gii9fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A city police officer walks by the deserted Trevi fountain, in Rome, on March 14, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Karl Ritter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Empty office buildings, closed shops, vacant restaurants, transit without passengers, streets without cars and squares without people. </p>
<p>And yet despite the radical though temporary disconnection of physical proximity, cities and citizens have found ways to support resilience, to prop up the value of urban living without the customary interactions of city life.</p>
<h2>The role of government</h2>
<p>The coronavirus pandemic has made it clear that governments are more important than ever. The ability of national governments to enforce public health rulings, commit to massive stimulus packages, close borders and lend expertise to international efforts is unparalleled. </p>
<p>City governments are less powerful, and are subject to being overridden by more senior levels of government. However, a common refrain about city governments is that they are the level of government that is closest to the people. </p>
<p>In this regard, it should come as no surprise that municipal government leaders continue to be the first to act in response to the spread of the coronavirus. </p>
<p>On March 6, the mayor of San Jose, Calif., Sam Liccardi, proposed <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/06/san-jose-mayor-calls-for-moratorium-on-evictions-during-coronavirus-outbreak/">a measure</a> to temporarily prevent evictions for renters whose incomes declined as a result of coronavirus shutdowns. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showdocument?id=55982">The San Jose moratorium</a> went into effect on March 11. By the end of the month, a range of cities across the state, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, had also enacted eviction moratoriums. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323830/original/file-20200329-146689-mdntm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323830/original/file-20200329-146689-mdntm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323830/original/file-20200329-146689-mdntm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323830/original/file-20200329-146689-mdntm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323830/original/file-20200329-146689-mdntm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323830/original/file-20200329-146689-mdntm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323830/original/file-20200329-146689-mdntm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323830/original/file-20200329-146689-mdntm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Newsom discusses California’s response to the coronavirus on March 24 in Rancho Cordova, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On March 27, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/489910-california-gov-newsom-declares-statewide-moratorium-on-evictions-for">statewide moratorium</a> on evictions for renters.</p>
<p>Similarly, in Toronto, Mayor John Tory announced a series of tax relief measures to assist Torontonians. On March 16, the city introduced a <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnTory/status/1239493702197936129?s=20">30-day grace period</a> for businesses on property tax, water and solid waste bills. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1239493702197936129"}"></div></p>
<p>The grace period was <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2020/03/20/city-to-give-residents-60-day-grace-period-on-property-tax-utility-bills.html">extended</a> to 60 days, and expanded to cover businesses and residents later that week. </p>
<p>Presumably, municipal-led measures will continue to evolve as the reality of the pandemic, and time lines for getting back to some version of normal, remain uncertain. </p>
<h2>Streets and public life</h2>
<p>Admonitions for people to stay home has translated into rapid and significant declines in vehicle traffic on city streets around the world. Streets comprise, on average, about 30 per cent of land in cities and represent about <a href="https://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/streets/">80 per cent</a> of a city’s total public space.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/08/china-ghost-cities-fear-coronavirus-streets-deserted-outbreak">Chinese cities</a>, images of streets and highways empty of vehicles depicted the initial, stark results of lockdowns. Vehicle traffic <a href="https://finance.sina.com.cn/china/gncj/2020-03-20/doc-iimxxsth0534209.shtml">declined sharply</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323831/original/file-20200329-146671-2bb5mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323831/original/file-20200329-146671-2bb5mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323831/original/file-20200329-146671-2bb5mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323831/original/file-20200329-146671-2bb5mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323831/original/file-20200329-146671-2bb5mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323831/original/file-20200329-146671-2bb5mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323831/original/file-20200329-146671-2bb5mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In this Jan. 28, 2020, photo, people wearing face masks walk down a deserted street in Wuhan in central China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Arek Rataj</span></span>
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<p>As efforts to physically distance take shape, residents in cities like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/nyregion/coronavirus-nyc-bike-commute.html">New York</a> have taken to cycling at the expense of public transit use. </p>
<p>The coronavirus has also led cities to reconsider street spaces dedicated to vehicles. Both <a href="https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2020/03/20/breaking-mayor-announces-emergency-bike-lanes-for-smith-street-second-ave-gap/">New York</a> and <a href="https://www.planetizen.com/news/2020/03/108809-bogot-expanding-bike-infrastructure-respond-coronavirus">Bogotá</a> have added temporary bike lanes to safely accommodate increases in cycling traffic. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323832/original/file-20200329-146671-wag81u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323832/original/file-20200329-146671-wag81u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323832/original/file-20200329-146671-wag81u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323832/original/file-20200329-146671-wag81u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323832/original/file-20200329-146671-wag81u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323832/original/file-20200329-146671-wag81u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323832/original/file-20200329-146671-wag81u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323832/original/file-20200329-146671-wag81u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cyclists ride past a deactivated employee turnstile at Boeing Co.’s manufacturing facility on March 25, 2020, in Renton, Wash., on the first day of a shutdown due to the spread of the new coronavirus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</span></span>
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<p>Cities are also experiencing increased pedestrian activity as people cooped up indoors head outside for a walk. Calls for cities to create pedestrian-only streets, where people can get fresh air, exercise and maintain physical distance, have ensued.</p>
<p><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6744420/road-closures-calgary-cyclists-pedestrians-social-distancing-coronavirus/">Calgary</a> and <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6744420/road-closures-calgary-cyclists-pedestrians-social-distancing-coronavirus/">Philadelphia</a> are examples of urban centres that have temporarily opened some streets to pedestrians, while similar discussions are underway in numerous other cities. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBByYjjvNzs">In Italian cities, videos</a> depicting neighbourhood balcony concerts give hope to residents, while entertaining viewers around the world. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EBByYjjvNzs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Balcony concerts in Italy.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/mar/23/spanish-police-sing-to-families-in-lockdown-in-mallorca-video">Mallorca, Spain</a>, police well-being checks have also presented opportunities for streetside music.</p>
<p>And, nightly at 7 p.m. in <a href="https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/with-a-crash-and-a-bang-b-c-residents-applaud-health-care-workers">Vancouver</a>, residents emerge to bang their pots and pans in support of health-care workers. </p>
<p>The impacts of the coronavirus on cities are extraordinarily difficult. There is tremendous uncertainty as to how long the virus and its impacts will endure, and how devastating it will be. Yet around the world, cities are responding rapidly and decisively to the crisis and its implications for urban life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134502/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shauna Brail receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>The impacts of coronavirus on cities are extraordinarily difficult. Yet around the world, cities are responding rapidly and decisively to the crisis and its implications for urban life.Shauna Brail, Director and Associate Professor, Urban Studies Program & Associate Director, School of Cities, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.