How will we move tomorrow?
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken over most of the world in the last couple of months and has the majority of the world’s population confined at home or at least urged to respect social distancing, turning our priorities and our schedules upside down in a very short period of time. As we are navigating this challenging situation, health is obviously our first concern, but mobility is also completely hampered and disrupted, to the point that it might be drastically reshaped. Our transportation system being shaken to the core, what would a more resilient and sustainable model be? I know what you might be thinking: “another article about a future we know close to nothing about with lots of wishful thinking?”. Perhaps, but I honestly believe that the only way to cope with the current situation is to try and change our paradigm, experiment with these new constraints and sort out what we need to keep as a society. Here are some of my educated guesses.
Dense cities are the basis of our development
The fear of the virus might trigger some desires to shut oneself away with their loved ones, because the grass always seems greener elsewhere. In the case of urbanites, leaving may offer better material living conditions during this confinement period. Big and dense cities usually offer smaller apartments, leading those who could afford it to consider isolating themselves in a more pleasant environment (even if it was strongly advised against by the authorities as it could carry the virus to places that had not been infected yet). Paris is not exempt from that trend and France’s INSEE (French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Research) estimates that 11% of Parisian residents relocated elsewhere. But once we’ve processed our new normality, let’s not forget that we’re social animals in need of interaction, and cities are a massive crossroad of people coming from different backgrounds. It can sometimes feel lonely until one has found their rythm and made a home, but it’s not for lack of opportunities. Indeed, as cities attract people for economic reasons, they are bound to host (more) smart individuals and be a fertile ground for sparking new ideas. This is why I strongly believe that tomorrow’s solutions for our current crisis will come first and foremost from densely populated cities. But how can you make social distancing and density work together? The two are actually not mutually exclusive and we shouldn’t confuse density with overcrowdedness. In fact, we need to find ways to spread out attendance and rush hours, and it is not necessarily by lowering cities’ density. Let’s explore how we could achieve that.
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