Safe Cities and their importance in the 'New Normal'

The COVID-19 crisis has brought all the major cities of the world to the frontline of charting out newer ways and means to deal with it. The cities are experiencing unprecedented strain – from stressed-out economies to overwhelmed healthcare systems. As nations continue to fight against the pandemic, confining people to their homes and changing the way the world moves, works, and thinks, a question is lingering in everybody's minds: What will life look like in the 'New Normal', post-pandemic?

COVID-19 is already posing one of the biggest challenges of all times, while cities are struggling to provide even basic amenities like access to water and clean sewerage. Other issues include daily wage earners suffering from lost income and scarcity of social safety nets, which are most needed at times like these.

As we have been strictly confined to our homes for a quarter now, the significance of basic amenities like buildings with more light and ventilation and resistance to natural calamities increases manifold.

Right now, the world is witnessing a lack of resilience in urban living with a profound impact on the poor.

Amidst all the fear and apprehension, we can now begin to figure out how our future cities should look. While cities undergo crisis management for recovery, the gaps in urban infrastructure exposed by this crisis will translate into more resilience.

COVID-19 has extended the greatest opportunity to reconsider and restructure urban informal settlements. It could be seen as an opportunity for incorporating 'sustainability' in cities by taking measures that mitigate risks arising from pandemics and that, in the future, could be adapted to deal with other crises and climate risks.

Are Our Cities Prepared for the 'New Normal'?

After the pandemic ends and the 'new normal' begins, citizens will look for safe cities that:

• Enable infrastructure protection
• Provide top-notch city surveillance
• Ensure excellent transport security management
• Maintain emergency centres
• Support high-tech transportation and road information systems
• Use automatic vehicle locating systems

Urban areas will have to be redesigned and planned to survive the effects of climate change and disasters. Architects will have to provide for more ventilation and natural light and reduce the use of air conditioners.

City planning should be inclusive with space for the poor, the vulnerable, and migrant sections who are subject to the maximum stress during crises.

In the future, architects might find design solutions for buildings and societies that enable people to socialize without overcrowding restaurants, bars, and clubs.

With work-from-home (WFH) likely to become a norm, people may prefer staying in their home cities — often tier-2 or tier-3 cities. Urban developers must consider offering affordable residential options and a higher quality of life comparable to metros.

Our cities are major contributors to the national economy. There is a need to maximize the economic potential of these urban clusters and other tier-1 and tier-2 towns, aiming to promote local economic growth.

Tech-Enabled Health Safety Practices

The current health crisis has taught us to intensify digital infrastructure in our cities. Some cities have successfully contained the spread by mapping infected persons' movements and using "big data" analysis to anticipate where transmission clusters will emerge next. These are much safer cities from a public health perspective, and we can leverage such health surveillance in the new normal.

The safe and smart city of the future must include planning for infrastructure and housing focused on wellbeing and resilience for the poor living in urban regions, developing and improving infrastructure across the developing world to bridge the urban services divide, and ultimately planning infrastructure geared towards a sustainable future.

(Source: STL Tech Blog - Safe Cities and Their Importance in the New Normal)