One recent weekend, I went for a walk through the alleys around the Qianmen shopping district, once Beijing’s commercial heart and still home to nationally known traditional shops. One of its chief side streets, Dazhalan, had been turned into a Ye Olde Pekinge-type street: its façades scrubbed and tarted up a bit too much but the famous stores still selling their century-old
Anne-Marie Broudehoux
People wandering on a pedestrian portion of Ste-Catherine Street in Montréal. The pandemic has contributed to a recognition of the importance of public space. The Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz
Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns?
This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing measures have contributed to an increased recognition of the importance of public space as a gathering place and key tools for meeting people’s basic needs. Urban residents are more aware of the important role of this space as a living environment essential to their physical and psychological well-being.
The MBIE Migration Data Explorer has the information (https://mbienz.shinyapps.io/migration data explorer/ ) back to 2010, albeit needs a bit of knowledge to use it. Specifically, arrival and departure data from Customs states Resident Visa for all residence class visas other than Australians (who are captured and listed separately), but for INZ application data, Permanent Resident Visa (PRV) applications are reported separately from other residence class visas as Returning Residence Visa in the application categories (this relates to the visa framework in the Immigration Act). This category also includes Variation of Travel Conditions applications, so requires some drilling to get PRV numbers.
Jean-Jacques Halans / EyeEm / Getty Images
The focus on building functional and economical cities could shift to planning healthier ones, says Anne-Marie Broudehoux, director of graduate programs at the Université du Québec à Montréal s school of design.
Access to public spaces like parks, nature, wide open spaces, and sports facilities could help combat feelings of social anxiety or loneliness.
Globally, cities are planning to maximize public spaces and drive low-cost initiatives by implementing pedestrian and shared-use streets, more bicycle lanes, urban agriculture, outdoor spaces, natural ventilation, and new parking spaces.
Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns?