‘Save a life, sit on your sofa.’ Coronavirus and the evolution of ‘home’.
Many businesses implemented a ‘work from home’ policy, weeks before government enforced a lockdown. This came after a wave of coronavirus cases were brought into London by holiday makers returning from Northern Italy. The city was anxious not to add pressure to an already over stretched National Healthcare Service (NHS) and stories were already circulating over the dangers of using public transport, in particular London’s underground train service the Tube.
For many days prior to this, cycling to meetings, switching handshakes and hugs for nods and singing happy birthday (twice) whilst washing our hands had become the new normal. Work places had cleared out, taking the contents of draws, favourite coffee mugs and even desktop computers with them.
Days later the ‘work from home’ initiative was finally upgraded to ‘stay at home’, as central government enforced lockdown. The ‘stay at home’ measures only permitted leaving the house for vital supplies such as food and medication and to take a one hour long session of physical exercise a day. These rules applied to everyone except ‘key workers’ such as; doctors, supermarket assistants and teachers, who were permitted to attend their place of work.
Since then, for many people, ‘home’ has become the epicentre of lockdown life. Spaces that were once only occupied in the evenings and weekends are now being used to maximum capacity. Kitchen tables have morphed into work desks, sofas are used for partaking in virtual pub quizzes and any left over floor space is now a gymnasium. The daily commute is taken around the estate, eating out requires ordering in and sadly many important life events such as funerals are now attended via a zoom link and paying your respects is done through a screen.
But, it is internationally agreed staying at home is vital in the fight against COVID-19. The major shift in condensing all of our social practices into our domestic spaces, although hard, has helped in reducing infection rates. As a result our homes have taken on a new symbolism, no longer just places of comfort or functionality they are now also our lifelines. Whilst the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has tried to reinforce this by using the slogan; ‘Stay Home- Protect the NHS- save lives’ creative trio Amy Fasey, Nathalie Gordon and Jacob Hellström have taken a more literal approach. Highlighting the importance our homes play in the fight against COVID-19, through a specially designed poster series. The set of four posters, displayed in different locations across London, encourages citizens to stay put. Slogans included ‘save a life, sit on your sofa’, ‘keep Britain going, go nowhere’ and ‘be a hero, don’t leave the house’. Although simple, the message is clearly rooted in the shifting symbolism of ‘home’, something that in many ways the government fails to imaginatively capture.
Despite our sofas having life saving abilities, Londoners still have a fragile and somewhat complex relationship with their homes. On average rent costs 30% of pre-tax pay (Trust for London, 2019), with London’s poorest spending up to 56% of their total income on rent (London’s Poverty Profile, 2020). Boroughs in the centre of London, where the highest concentration of jobs are, have the highest rents. Whilst, on average housing furthest away from ‘the city’ costs the least. Unsurprisingly therefore the second greatest household cost after rent is transport.
On Sunday the 10th of May Johnson called for anyone who could not work from home to return to work, with the side note of ‘try to avoid public transport’. This of course overwhelmingly affects the working class who predominately work in roles that cannot be carried out at home such as; cleaners, builders and hospitality workers. Due to the cost of housing many low-paid workers also rely on public transport which is a hot bed for the spreading of coronavirus. Even more shockingly just a day after the government decision to return citizens to work, the Office for National Statics publicised data that showed men in low-paid manual jobs were four times more likely and women twice as likely to die from coronavirus than those in technical roles (Guardian, 2020).
In essence shielding from the virus by staying home has become a luxury only for the upper classes.
Further more many citizens have struggled to access adequate green space which allows for social distancing and is within walking distance of their homes. Whilst the London Plan aims for every Londoner to have a green space within 400 meters of their home, it did not take into account an even spread of green space per resident across London (Eco Systems Knowledge Network, 2020). As a result parks and public spaces had to temporarily close due to over crowding, including East London’s largest green space, Victoria Park.
Ultimately as our social practices reconfigure, our spacial practices need to follow suit. COVID-19 has highlighted the importance, now more than ever, of mixed-use planning. Mixed-use planning incorporates multiple uses into an urban environment, Tokyo for example is often described as a ‘city of villages’ (Echanove, E and Srivastava, R, 2013) with mixed-use houses that have businesses or workshops on the ground floor and the family home upstairs. Whole neighbourhoods are designed with green spaces, places to eat, schools and healthcare all in the vicinity of residents homes.
Even in a post COVID world London will still face the same crucial challenges such as; poor mental health, air pollution and the rising cost of living. Londoners can no longer afford to travel great distances to find green space, spend a disproportionate amount of their wages on transport and rent or continue with the current air pollution levels. Redesigning our lives to geographically evolve around our homes will build stronger community bonds and create more vibrant places to live with an even spread of all the city has to offer. Ultimately even if working from home isn’t a possibility, working close to home should be.
