Making (an urban?) sense of COVID19

COVID19. Coronavirus. Social Distancing. Physical Distancing. Self-Isolation. Shelter in place… are few of the several terms we ALL have become knowledgeable of in a matter of few weeks.

Professionals, professional bodies and institutes, media outlets and even the infamous WhatsApp university has been writing a lot on COVID19 or Coronavirus- a disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus- which originated in central China’s Hubei province. 

Several experts consider Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China, as the ground zero of SARS-CoV-2 virus [Illustration by Mahak Agrawal]

In medical school (Yes, I was a medical candidate who left medicine for urban planning. No, I didn't fail the exams. Far from it!), I remember a professor saying that there is nothing "common" about the common flu. When it comes to viral infections, virus lose their potency over time but they are tough and keep evolving. I wonder what he has to say about the SARS-CoV-2.

Rewinding the lectures, I wonder if the SARS-CoV-2 die down? When will it die down? From an urban perspective, however, far too many questions and perspectives jump and down the grey matter.   

There’s a lot we still do not know about the COVID19, especially the extent and scale of impacts that will emerge once it dies down. What we do know is that this tiny agent has shaken up the entire world. 

Visual dashboard created by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) to track the virus worldwide. The map aggregates data from 17 sources, including the World Health Organization, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and several individual governments. The site tallies the total cases by country or hotspot, the number of deaths, and the number of people who have recovered.

We knew that the world was connected and now we are witnessing it from our homes- if we are privileged to be at a place, we call home.

Amid the pandemic, scores of news and thoughts are being published every second on the world wide web; there’s a new discourse emerging amongst professionals in the urban domain. A few of the countless perspectives I have read in the past two weeks see COVID19:

1. as an opportunity to:

a. take city space away from cars. On March 17, a group of ~50 public health and transport researchers wrote an open letter to the UK government advocating for safe cycling and walking amid the pandemic.

b. redesign cities for future pandemics. In the evolution of human settlements, disease outbreaks have fundamentally changed the way we design, plan or manage cities. For example, responding to cholera epidemics in the United States in the 1800s, London in the 1850s and 1860s in India, necessitated the building of new plumbing and sewer systems and the devising of new zoning laws to prevent overcrowding.

2. as a reminder of:

a. Cities’ reliance on migrant, informal and low-income workforce. In India, thousands have been stranded amid the 21-days of nationwide lockdown imposed by the Centre till April 14, 2020. A lot of criticism has erupted with pictures of migrants leaving cities as the Centre ‘failed” to give any warning of the lockdown. But, for a country of 1.3+ billion, giving a warning would have been better? Perhaps, no! People would have- and in some states did- rushed in large numbers to the nearest transport hub, potentially increasing the spread of COVID19. What the government has been doing instead is reassure citizens- through all modes of communication- to shelter in place, maintain hygiene and not panic. A lockdown is the only option to break the contact chain in India. 

b. City’s high densities that can be our friend and foe. Cities with densities, overcrowding, inequalities of access to basic infrastructure higher than their rural counterparts, exhibit a higher risk of contracting infections like COVID19. But this dense city fabric also enables people without cars to move about, to access health centres among other places of necessity. 

Unfortunately, not much is being said or done for millions living around the world in informal settlements, refugee camps and the streets- people for whom social distancing and/or self-isolation is a privilege. 

In a few of these settlements, the United Nations and its different arms and partners, governments, civil societies and citizens are taking actions to break the COVID19 chain and maintain cleanliness in these urban informal settlements. For example, in Kenya’s Mathare informal settlement, Kenya, the UN-Habitat and Mathare Environmental One Stop Youth Centre have partnered to protect the community by setting up hand washing stations at the one-stop resource centre. In the Moria camp- situated on the Greek island of Lesbos- residents have taken matters in their own hands, sewing face masks for the refugee camp and spreading the word on the importance of hygiene. On another Greek island of Samos, the Vathy refugee camp is fighting the virus with the support of two NGOs: Still I Rise NGO is enabling children to lead awareness campaigns and Movement on the Ground is taping dispensers of hand sanitiser to olive trees.

Amongst these perspectives and reactionary measures could be an idea that may change the way we work, live or play in cities- we never know!

What we do know is that the COVID19 has exposed faults in the urban practice and governance, one SHOULD NOT cover up post-pandemic. COVID19 makes it all the more important for professionals in the urban domain to start thinking about:

1. Efficient and effective health systems (methods + infrastructure) which can tackle health risks
2. Efficient and effective hygienic systems (water + sanitation) which can prevent the spread of the virus.
3. Bringing back health into territorial planning. Health districts and Health risk zonation can be the game-changers.
4. Establishing and making an effective use of robust digital infrastructure at the district level to monitor and combat health risks. Kerala, for instance, is effectively using its digital health infrastructure to isolate and diagnose positive COVID19 cases.

Even though there are health risks like COVID19 which are unforeseeable, urban planning and management can certainly reduce the extent of ripple effects of any health risk.

For a country like India where majority continues to live in rural areas, a significant portion of city dwellers live in informal, unplanned spaces and implementation of social distancing is tough, urban systems need to champion for change- a change from reaction to resilience.