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Cities used to be hailed for cultural diversity, with thriving and resonating dynamism. But today, scenes of desperation reigns, as stores are closed, streets rendered lifelessly and -from our homes, we no longer enjoy urban economic vibrancy. As numerous businesses are facing bankruptcy, others realise that -with technology, working 100km or 5km away makes no difference. The coronavirus brought our urban economy to a standstill. The functioning of cities is being re-questioned. How we react to this crisis will shape the city for decades to come.
We moved to cities to enjoy the economic opportunities they bring, but today we fear them due to their density, threats of contagion and xenophobia. In confinement, we think back in the nostalgia for rural scenes and wonder if it would have been better there. The concept of social distancing seems ingrained in the very philosophy of rural development, in view of the physical distancing in between infrastructures. However, concerns arise as to towns relying on factories and mills, where cases in rural America started peaking. While there are other valid arguments that villages could be safer, the city, however, still is where healthcare is, along with many other resources. With the same nostalgia, coupled with people’s innate -and undesired- resistance to change, there is a strong urge to go back to a time before the coronavirus; to go back to a time of seemingly economic valliance. However, we need to be realist, and accept the fact that our economic landscape was far from being equitable and fair. Mohamed Yunus, the Nobel Prize Laureate, echoed concerns that we need not go back to status quo, but use the disruptions brought to us by COVID-19 to re-evaluate our economic standing. This retrospection may provide us opportunities to bring about some much-needed change to build more resilient and inclusive communities.
This may sound overly optimistic to suggest that change can be so easily achieved, but we think in context. Various quarters, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are warning of an incoming steep recession, with GDP per capita shrinking in 170 countries. And further believing that if COVID-19 re-surges in 2021, the world will be scarred for years to come; struggling to recover -while opening deeper our already existing societal wounds. While there are still a lot of uncertainties about the virus and its impact on cities, we can already observe that our cities are on a standstill, where most of us facing unemployment or pay cuts. In fact, since mid-March, unemployment claims in the USA reached a record of 30 million; 15 million more than the 2008 recession. In this case, the COVID story is not over and this number is expected to keep climbing. Real estate market demands will most definitely see a change due to this sudden un-affordability by consumers.
