How the coronavirus crisis disrupted the global urban order

History is full of examples of mighty cities brought to their knees by deadly disease outbreaks. While COVID-19’s global toll is miniscule compared with the ravages of, say, the Black Death during the Middle Ages, the sheer scale of urbanization and the interconnectedness of today’s modern economy amplified the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. How the different cities adapted to the latest contagion may very well determine their resilience and longevity.

Without a doubt, the COVID-19 crisis has shaken up the existing global urban order and thrown the reputation of several Western cities into question. Yet in many ways, the pandemic has merely accelerated a long-established eastward trend.

 Dr. Parag Khanna, managing partner at FutureMap, a consultancy firm analyzing trends in globalization, says the world can be divided into two categories now. “The places that shifted and are going to figure out how to move ahead and those that have not been successful at sticking to a plan,” he told Arab News.

 “Countries such as the UAE, Kazakhstan and Singapore are all countries that are going to come out of the pandemic in a higher position in the hierarchy, and stabilize a profit in the years ahead.”

Read the full essay in Arab News here.