Alina Suter
The population in cities is growing and up until now, the benefits of a more urbanized world seemed to outweigh the downsides. Then Covid-19 hit and led to a re-thinking of our way of living together and may even question urbanization as the right model for our future.
By 2050, more than two-thirds of the world will live in urban areas
The world population is growing and cities are more and more becoming the centres of our lives. According to the UN World Urbanization prospects, by 2050, 68 % of the world’s population will live in urban areas. (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2018)
Share of the population living in urban areas in 2050 (Picture from https://ourworldindata.org/urbanization#what-share-of-people-will-live-in-urban-areas-in-the-future)
Urbanisation is an important driver of economic development. In cities, there is a greater concentration of economic activities and distances are shorter for both suppliers and customers, which also leads to lower transportation costs. Aggregations of people create more opportunities to interact and communicate which may promote creative and innovative thinking and therefore development of new ideas and technologies (Zhang, 2016).
But with all these benefits, there also come challenges. The more people, the more complicated the supply of the needed infrastructure is. This starts at basic infrastructure needs such as housing, transportation, and energy systems but also services like education and health care. Facilitating and implementing the benefits of urbanisation as shared and as inclusive as possible poses another difficulty. Urban growth needs to be managed in order to ensure access to infrastructure and social services for all. Policies that take the needs of the urban poor and other vulnerable groups into perspective are fundamental in this matter (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2018).
Following these trends, efforts to push sustainable developments of cities have gained importance in the past years. Cities and urban development even made it to the “UN Sustainable Development Goals” in form of goal 11: “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, n.d.)
The importance of public spaces in sustainable cities
According to SDG goal 11, there is a huge potential for increasing streets and open public spaces in urban areas. The UN habitat, whose goal it is to create a better quality of life for all in an urbanizing world, created specific targets for the future of cities, for example “By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities” (UN Habitat, 2018).
But what even are public spaces? There are various sorts of urban public spaces. They include green spaces, in particular parks, playgrounds, sport fields, recreational areas, blue spaces such as waterways, waterfront walkways, rivers and grey spaces like streets, plazas, city centres, shopping streets. Green spaces are known to provide many benefits and can enhance the physical, social, emotional, psychological and material well-being of individuals and communities. Public spaces in general are the stages for cultural and community life, movement of goods and people and provision of infrastructure. To function and provide mobility, cities rely on having a network of public spaces. They improve health by facilitating space for doing physical activities and providing access to health infrastructure and amenities. Cities that encourage inhabitants to walk or cycle have been shown to increase social cohesiveness and also reduce crime rates (el Khateeb & Shawket, 2022).
The most marginalized people are especially dependant on the services of urban spaces. They act as an open-air living room and can provide livelihoods of the urban poor (street vendors, waste-pickers). Considering these aspects, the UN habitat even goes as far as saying that public space as a common good is a key enabler of fulfilment of human rights, empowering women and providing opportunities for the young (UN Habitat, 2018).
Covid-19 and public spaces
Restrictions and stay-at-home-orders in the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic led to less visits of urban green spaces, since they were believed to be social hubs with increased chance of infection. In later phases, still with the closing of many indoor recreational spaces, the importance of outside areas has been amplified. Various studies tried to understand the impact of the pandemic on the importance of public spaces to the public. A study made in Krakaw, Poland showed that residents believed green spaces to be important for their mental and physical health, for example on stress level reduction (Noszczyk et al., 2022). Similar effects were seen in the Vermont, US. In a survey, many people reported that importance of such spaces increased or greatly increased since the offset of COVID-19. People that never visited these areas before, now visit them frequently now (Grima et al., 2020). This shows that COVID-19 changed how many people perceived and interacted with the natural environment. Furthermore, it highlights that especially during a crisis, green spaces are of upmost importance for residents in cities and play a huge role in supporting mental and physical health (Noszczyk et al., 2022).
Moreover, the pandemic outbreak raised questions about the city as a sustainable form of living itself. Until now, the downsides of increased concentration and urbanization were considered minor in comparison to all the advantages. But now, the pandemic situation has pointed out the fragility and vulnerability of our form of living. There have been prompts for new approaches to city planning, ranging from new approaches to public transport and working spaces in cities, to proposing resettlement in underpopulated rural areas. If the changes really have to be this drastic is up for discussion. What is clear: to prevent or inhibit future pandemics we must find new ways to address the density issue, allowing people to live, work and communicate even as they are temporarily in isolation. One example of what a future city might look like is the concept of an “elastic city”. It proposes an urban system that could easily be fragmented in independent blocks if needed. There is also the possibility to temporarily change the use of spaces that lose their functions during crises (hotels, office buildings) (Cotella Giancarlo & Vitale Brovarone Elisabetta, 2020).
As you can see, there are no limits to reimagining the future of our cities. Now is a perfect moment to be innovative, re-evaluate our way of living and never stop looking for the best options that serve both human and environmental needs.
Sources
Cotella Giancarlo, & Vitale Brovarone Elisabetta. (2020). Questioning urbanisation models in the face of Covid-19. Tema. Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, 105–118. www.tema.unina.it
el Khateeb, S., & Shawket, I. M. (2022). A new perception; generating well-being urban public spaces after the era of pandemics. Developments in the Built Environment, 9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dibe.2021.100065
Grima, N., Corcoran, W., Hill-James, C., Langton, B., Sommer, H., & Fisher, B. (2020). The importance of urban natural areas and urban ecosystem services during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLOS ONE, 15(12), e0243344. https://doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0243344
Noszczyk, T., Gorzelany, J., Kukulska-Kozieł, A., & Hernik, J. (2022). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the importance of urban green spaces to the public. Land Use Policy, 113, 105925. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.LANDUSEPOL.2021.105925
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (n.d.). Sustainable cities and human settlements. Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://sdgs.un.org/topics/sustainable-cities-and-human-settlements
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2018). World Urbanization Prospects 2018 Highlights.
UN Habitat. (2018). SDG Indicator 11.7.1 Training Module: Public Space.
Zhang, X. Q. (2016). The trends, promises and challenges of urbanisation in the world. Habitat International, 54, 241–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.HABITATINT.2015.11.018