Aerial View of People Social Distancing at the park
The COVID-19 pandemic has stress-tested cities in ways nearly unimaginable, from shuttering retail to depleting crucial tax revenues that will cripple public service provision for years to come, to fundamentally disrupting the concept of commuting for millions of people. In this paper, we discuss ways cities can leverage this period to increase their ability to “flex,” meaning to adapt in the face of adversity and to building back stronger. Such lessons and potential transformations will serve as a “trial run” for the impending and almost certainly much larger impacts of climate change.
We apply these assessments and recommended learnings to a case study of housing. With an imminent eviction crisis due to widespread inability to pay rent, the timescale for innovative housing solutions has become immediate. Potential solutions include repurposing existing buildings, innovations in the construction and licensing of new housing, and revised transit scheduling. Ultimately these strategies can help mitigate housing issues stemming from climate migration, homelessness, and the need for urban density in light of expected urban population growth. Their common thread is a more intelligent assessment of resource allocation based on novel data and forecasting techniques.