Covid-19 Preparedness: What Does Re-Opening America Feels Like in Your Community

Covid-19 Preparedness: What Does Re-Opening America Feels Like in Your Community?

·      How do we safely reopen cities after the coronavirus pandemic? We have to prepare now.

·      No, COVID-19 will not be the end of cities. But it will take time, effort and preparation to safely return them to “normal” as soon as possible, says urban studies theorist Richard Florida.

·      How will our daily lives be different?

a.    No, cities won’t go away.

    “[Pandemics have] never really altered this arrow of urbanization — the clustering of people and ideas and firms

     and businesses,” Florida says.  “Infectious disease is a horrible force. It thrives off clustering, it

      transmits through clusters. But urbanization is the more powerful force.”

b.   Geographic divides will grow

·      “I think what this is likely to do, unfortunately, if we if we’re not conscious of it and if we don’t plan for it, is it’s

         likely to reinforce geographic divides,” says Florida.

        “This thing that we call winner-take-all urbanism, where a few places (the superstar cities such as New York,

         London, Los Angles), as well as the tech hubs (cities like Austin, Seattle and Boston), have really benefited, I          think those patterns will be reinforced.”

        patterns will be reinforced.”