Urban planning with the tremendous growth in the COVID’19 cases every day, it is becoming more difficult to self-guard one’s self from becoming prey to the pandemic. The outbreak of this pandemic has made the people question the planning of their man-made surroundings as well as the natural. Several cities around the world have grown unanimously and not in a planned manner and such growth of the cities has put the people in much more jeopardy making them realize the need for planned urban growth and not which is pure because of rapid settling and expansion of the city.
But, on the other hand, some cities have met the expectations of the pandemic with their pre-pandemic urban planning and are listed below.
1. Singapore | Urban planning
The urban planners of this city have executed some thorough strategic analysis on the planning of this city among which several features have helped fight the pandemic. Firstly, uniformly distributed density, the high-rise buildings, and low-rise buildings have been segregated with green open spaces in between confirming mental peace to the users and most importantly, also focused on the decentralization of shops which automatically helps in social distance.
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
Known as the most sustainable, liveable, and happiest city in the world, the city focuses on increasing pedestrianization and bicycling and avoiding vehicular movement. The planning was based on keeping things suitable to the human scale and also preserving its historical uniqueness hence high rises were not the point of urbanization. Hence, through managing density and open spaces with decongested roads, the city stood for itself.
3. Kobe, Japan | Urban planning
Planned along a water body, the planning of the city revolved around local production and local consumption which helped the people to stay indoors or just step out a little, and all the resources were made available to them in this pandemic.
4. Boise, Idaho
The space development of the city is done with a belief of community relations yet the planning has helped the dwellers avoid the pandemic when compared to other cities of the states. The building is divided by nature which has ensured less public contact and feasibility to move out to green space to gather some mental health.
5. Maddison, Wisconsin | Urban planning
The prime objective of planning revolves around neighborhood planning inculcated with wider roads and small rise buildings. These have helped in maintaining the spread of cases in the surrounding as well as maintaining distance because of the road widths.
6. Salt Lake City, Utah
The city has had successful urbanization since 1927 and has grown further ever since. The current planning is related to the utilization of a smaller area masterplan. The streets of the city have provisions for all categories- automobiles, bicycles, and pedestrians. The housing facility includes a private front yard but the average amount of housing or rent to one’s salary is very less, hence the percentage of people being poor is less which in term has proved city-wide hygiene.
7. Barcelona, Spain | Urban planning
While the pandemic has made all the people across the entire world to sit at their homes, the planning of Barcelona has done the opposite as the planning inculcates having the workspace in the same precinct as their houses which has helped in maintaining the economy and also neglected one from traveling which has helped prevent the spread of the pandemic.
8. Chandigarh, India
A grid planning by Master Le Corbusier has made the walls of the city to survive any kind of pandemic. Each unit is a self-sufficient unit having its medical shop, ration shops, school space, space for recreational activities, and place of worship. The amenities provided allows people to stay in the precinct and not get affected by the pandemic.
9. Durham, North Carolina
The urban planning of this city promotes the protection, restoration and responsible usability of the green spaces which has helped reduce the pollution in both air and water which has further helped in reducing the spread of the virus and also the building of open spaces to segregate the people from feeling the rapid development.
10. Amsterdam, Netherlands | Urban planning
The most attractive feature of the planning of this city is its acceptability of all kinds of people and also having very much affordable housing. This has made Amsterdam cut through the barrier of rich and poor and has made available equal resources to all the communities maintaining hygiene. This notion of acceptability has helped the city survive the pandemic.
The planning of such cities has ensured it’s users’ safety, comfort and mental ease even in the pandemic as their statistics for the number of cases are below average and mostly recovered. The need of locking down the cities wasn’t entirely a necessity but was taken as a precaution and with the professional sector remaining in motion, the economy stood throughout which in terms made the execution of the urban planning a success as it served the people righteously at this unexpected hour of the pandemic.
