Cities in Times of Pandemic: a Reflective Essay

Abstract

This article is born out of the concern about the moment that the world is going through, in the fight against a world-wide pandemic, and seeks to discuss what it will mean for cities as we know them today. Regarding the innovations and responses that will arise in the way of planning post-pandemic cities of Covid-19, there are more questions than answers and for the moment what is most valid is the reflection on the subject to build questions that encourage new research and approaches to the theme of urban planning. To reflect on possible responses of urbanism today, a review is made of the historiography of urbanism, since its emergence in the late 19th century, discussing how the response of urban planning was during the pandemics and epidemics of the 19th and 20th centuries. This topic is debated, explaining that urbanism appears and develops seeking to create conditions in which the contagion and emergence of new epidemics does not happen, addressing cases of interventions and urban plans in Europe and Brazil. Finally, data from the WHO and the UN are pointed out that demonstrate that the pandemic scenario may become habitual and, the reflexes already observed in cities and societies, to reflect on a possible response of urban planning for the post Covid-19 and for the role of architects and urban planners in the face of this crisis. It reinforces the idea that cities reflect society, and that this response depends on changes that impact the economy and social organization.