Why the pandemic is a time to reimagine cities

This discussion on Rethinking Neighbourhoods and Public Space was part of the Post-Covid City online event held this month by the Pritzker Forum for Global Cities — a partnership with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Financial Times. The panel included Claire Bushey, FT Chicago correspondent; Leslie Kern, author of Feminist City; and Carlos Moreno, the Paris mayor’s special envoy for smart cities. These are edited excerpts.

Claire Bushey (CB): The pandemic has changed the way we experience our cities. As it ebbs, there’s a question of what we need to do to reinvigorate urban life and build cities that are more resilient and more just. The pandemic has forced us to rethink the notion that we live in neighbourhoods and work in the central business district. Carlos, you work with city planners in Paris to help implement the idea of the “proximity city” — that most of your needs . . . can be met within a 15-minute travel radius, or 20 minutes, or 30.

Carlos Moreno (CM): The 15-minute concept is a new idea to fight against climate change with low CO2 emissions, because we want to reduce [travel and provide] access in the vicinity to essential urban social functions: to live, to work, to supply, to care, to learn and to enjoy . . . We need to develop this new proximity, because we [were able to] live — under the pandemic crisis — in a healthy city, and we could develop this [more “human”] city . . . We have different cities, but . . . we have the same challenges to reduce our CO2 emissions, to develop healthy cities, to build a new model for living differently. We have been accepting the unacceptable: to live in an unsustainable city.

CB: [In the pandemic] we experienced the importance of outdoor public spaces. Parks, though, are not distributed equally and don’t have equal amenities. 

Leslie Kern (LK): I think many people found during the pandemic . . . that a lot of our urban environments were not very humane. That we have either taken away or never really invested in the kind of infrastructure that makes people comfortable . . . places to sit, shelter, shade, access to water, access to restrooms. We need to build back more caring, human, playful, sociable spaces into our cities. And we have to take a hard look at which neighbourhoods have access to high quality public space and which [have] any green space, any public space, at all. [We must not] just focus on putting them in the downtown tourist centre or in wealthier neighbourhoods, because often in lower income neighbourhoods, where people live in apartment buildings, for example, there’s even a greater need.

CM: I am totally convinced that, today, we have been shifting towards a new paradigm. The most important point is to rediscover . . . the proximity of our resources for living differently and, in particular — this is the case in Paris — to propose the urban common good as a guideline for developing new services. The common good is [about] for example, social housing. For developing the commercial property of the city in order to avoid gentrification . . . The common good is, as well, the participatory budget — 10 per cent of the budget of the city of Paris is totally oriented for the participatory budget: €800m for people, for city dwellers, for civic associations. 

LK: The idea of a 15-minute city overlaps so well with things that women and feminists have been arguing for a long time would be important for gender equity. Because [in] women’s journey through the city and struggle to balance care work and paid work . . . the lack of proximity has been a real barrier, a real source of struggle . . . But we have to be careful . . . that we don’t make these 15-minute areas a new urban amenity. I think some very lucky people are already living this reality. But many have been further displaced from such neighbourhoods, from good transportation links, from good quality schools, and from proximity to employment, because of gentrification processes.

Cities must ensure that in these areas there is a good mix of housing. That tenants are protected and not vulnerable to displacement . . . We have to maintain good, affordable public transportation links between neighbourhoods because not everybody will be able to do everything within their 15-minute neighbourhood. And we have to be attentive to equity issues such as gender because not everybody’s lives look the same. What works . . . for one person might not work for another. So, paying attention to that variety of needs is really key.

For a video of the online discussions go to: www.globalcitiesforum.org/post-covid-city