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Adaptable Cities, Pandemic Mitigation and Crisis Preparedness

This 18 months project funded by the British Academy is part of the Pandemic Preparedness: Lessons to Learn from COVID-19 across the G7 Programme.

Group of women walking and dancing down the street free of cars

1 April 2024

Overview

This project aims to explore how cities have and can be adapted, proactively, within a very short timescale, as to immediately mitigate the impact of any future pandemics on people's health, well-being and local economies but also ensure their continuity as rich transactional spaces hosting all types of human, economic, financial and information flows. While we situate this research area across the G7, we specifically focus on three continents: North America, Europe and Asia and zoom on four cities: New York City, London, Paris and Tokyo. The project ultimate goal is to co-design with a panel of built environment experts, a set of multi-scalar and evidence-based lessons as to promote proactive adaptability.

We are focusing on:

  • The adaptation of planning regulations and policy guidelines allowing swift and prompt change of use (including ways to engage with local communities and forms of funding).
  • The adaptation of spaces dedicated to mobility, typically streets and sidewalks, and their shift away from car use to other socio-cultural and health-driven purposes.
  • The adaptation of outdoor/public spaces (i.e. squares, parks, vacant and abandoned lands) for more diverse and inclusive community-led uses with a specific focus on users鈥� mental health and well-being.

Our goal is to examine and understand:

  • The nature and mechanisms behind the adaptation, reappropriation and transformation of urban spaces during the pandemic, from a planning and urban development perspective
  • How such adaptations allowed for economic, social and health mitigation;
  • The legacy of those adaptations, for individuals and communities, supporting (non-profit) organisations, for policy as well as for the planning system and wider urban development process
  • Multi-scalar, evidence-based and co-designed lessons as to promote proactive adaptability and foster cities鈥� preparedness for future pandemics.

Our Research comprises three work packages:

  • WP1: International and National Mapping Exercise.
  • WP2: City Mapping & Analysis.
  • WP3: Co-design of multi-scalar and evidence-based solutions to foster cities鈥� resilience in pandemic preparedness.

This project runs from May 2023 to November 2024.

People

Professor Lauren Andres聽(Lead PI), The Bartlett School of Planning
Send Lauren an email

Dr Paul Moawad
View Paul's profile

Professor Marcus Zepf (Universit茅 Paris-Est Cr茅teil - Paris)

Professor Sakai Aya (Tokyo City University)

Dr Federica Appendino (脡cole Sup茅rieure des Professions Immobili猫res - Paris)

Funder

The British Academy

Outputs

We are expecting the project to have impact at three main levels:

  1. Local impact at city and borough levels in France, the UK and US with our analysis able to inform local policies and strategies.
  2. National impact through the dissemination of our results through professional bodies and networks.
  3. International impact across G7 countries through our engagement with a set of international experts/networks.

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Photo by Lauren Andres聽