From food to tech, coronavirus to spur urban planning rethink : The Standard

• Reuters 19th Mar 2020 09:25:06 GMT +0300

The coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the planet will force city authorities and planners to more seriously consider factors such as population density, technology, food security and inadequate housing, urban experts said. As of Wednesday, morning the virus, referred to as Covid-19, had infected about 200,000 people worldwide and killed 8,000, according to a global tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. In response, countries have tightened border controls, imposed travel bans, locked down cities and stepped up surveillance using technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI). “It is likely that Covid-19 will prompt a rethink of urban design and planning in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Tony Matthews, a senior lecturer in urban and environmental planning at Australia’s Griffith University. “There will probably be consideration of desirable population density levels, a greater utilisation of apps and smart data to track health trends, and many cities will probably start to think about their food security more closely,” he said. Countries, including China, South Korea and Singapore are using robots, drones and big data to track the outbreak, disinfect hospitals and deliver supplies. Such technologies may become a fixture in cities to flag potential problems for quicker response, said Matthews.

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Authorities are also likely to more closely monitor vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever, which are shifting due to climate change, and impose limits on the types and numbers of live animals in traditional markets, he said. Coronaviruses are zoonotic diseases - meaning they are passed from animals to humans - and the rapid pace of deforestation and urbanisation are major factors in the spread of these diseases in Asia, health experts say. Authorities in China said they would tighten supervision of traditional markets in the cities. In Singapore, which has among the fastest ageing populations in the world, engaging with older people was key as the coronavirus has a higher mortality rate among seniors. Food security More than two-thirds of the global population is forecast to live in urban areas by 2050 - up from 56 per cent today, according to the United Nations. With cities battling worsening climate-change effects, planners also have to balance competing demands for land. China hurriedly built 16 makeshift hospitals in Wuhan, the city at the centre of the coronavirus epidemic, to handle the load. In Hong Kong, some public housing blocks were requisitioned for quarantine facilities, while in Italy authorities in Genoa are converting a ferry to a hospital boat. “Planners may consider leaving small parcels of strategic urban land available, in case temporary medical facilities or housing need to be set up,” said Matthews. Alongside, authorities will also need to consider the issue of food security amidst lockdowns and closed borders, he said. “Food security is a huge issue because cities do not tend to produce their food,” he said. Singapore, which imports more than 90 per cent of its food, is encouraging more local production, for example. Perhaps, more importantly, planners will have to consider the impact of widening wealth inequality, with millions of homeless people and those living in slums at greater risk of contracting disease, said Annie Wilkinson, a research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, a UK think-tank.

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