Tuesday, October 12, 2021

What necessitates a new approach to urban planning subsequent to the coronavirus pandemic?

Zohreh A. Daneshpour, 
Shahid Beheshti University  

Purpose
This paper is about the lessons that can be learned from the Coronavirus pandemic 2020 for the Post-pandemic urban and regional planning. It discusses the essence of urban and regional planning during the post pandemic era and the necessity that a new approach to urban planning must be devised out of the coronavirus crisis. This is important as “recovery from the coronavirus crisis must lead to a better world” (due to the UN secretary general), i.e., a plea for a just and devoid of greed and war world and to radically change the political economy of societies to embrace an adapted and“ public welfare-orientated” urban and reginal planning system and rewrite urban regulations to promote sustainability and equity. Lessons that can be learned from this pandemic in terms of urban planning is that ‘urban problems are not only  related to climate change and natural disasters, but also to viral viruses. Thus, is that there is an urgent need to adapt planning thinking and practice in a way that is more responsive to disasters and also to the needs of all socio-economic groups and mainly the more deprived people. The immediate focus for cities is on stopping the spread of COVID-19, but next step is answering the question of: what would be the longer- term impact of a pandemic situation on urban and regional planning





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