What do we want our cities to look like after the pandemic?
As more and more cities around the world lift or are about to lift lockdown, Milan, which has very high pollution levels, has announced an ambitious plan to reduce car use in its center by reallocating some 35 kilometers of streets for pedestrians and bicycles, to protect its citizens after a period of relative inactivity that has led to reductions in traffic of between 30% and 75% with corresponding falls in pollution levels. Overall, the pandemic has led to the largest drop in carbon dioxide emissions in history.
A recent Harvard study conclusively links deaths from COVID-19 to previous exposure to high levels of air pollution, which in the context of a new post-pandemic normality in which proven treatments or vaccines are not yet available, could be a factor in death rates. This is why a growing number of citizens and mayors are saying that they do not want to return to the previous normality.
If nothing else, the pandemic represents a huge opportunity to rethink cities around the needs of people rather than cars. The idea of closing streets to vehicles so that people have more space to walk or exercise has become a growing trend in recent weeks in cities like Bogota, Calgary, Cologne, Denver and many others. Last Friday, Oakland announced the closure of 10% of its roads, some 120 kilometers, to all traffic…
